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Life and Public Services 



OF 



Grover Cleveland, 

Twenty-second President of the United 

States and Democratic Nominee 

for Re-election in 1892. 



AN INTRODUCTORY SKETCH BY THE LATE HON. WILLIAM 

DORSHEIMER, ENLARGED AND CONTINUED THROUGH 

HIS ADMINISTRATION, WITH A STATEMENT OF THE 

DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES AND A HAND BOOK OF 

USEFUL POLITICAL INFORMATION BY 

W. U. Hensel, 

Attorney-General of Pennsylvania; 

ALSO, 

A Sketch of the Life and Services of 

Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, 

Vice-Presidential Nominee, 

BV 

I'RORKSSOR. CHARLKS MORRIS, , w 

ILLUSTRATED. ^ I 



Edgevvood Publishing Company. 



Copyright, 1892, by J. Frank Beale, Jr. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

FAGB. 

Chapikr L Parentage, Early Life, and Education 21 

*• TI. His Career at the Buffalo Bar 32 

" TIL The Mayorality and Municipal Reform 40 

** IV. The Democratic Canvass for Governor in N. v., in 1882 52 

" V. First Year as Governor 61 

" VI. Second Year as Governor 74 

" VII. Canvass and Convention of '84 93 

'• VIII. Cleveland-Blaine Presidential Campaign 99 

" IX. Preparing for the New Administration 

" X. The Inauguration I32 

" XL The President and Congress 161 

" XII. Courtship and Marriage 180 

" XIII. The President's Tours 202 

•• XIV. Tour to the South and West 224 

XV. The Veto Power 241^^ 

•♦ XVL Democratic Tariff Reform 268 

" XVII. Convention of 1888 287 

" XVIII. The 1888 Election Campaign 295 

" XIX. The End of the Century 304 

" XX. In Private Life 318 

" XXL National Convention of 1892 333 

LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 

Chai'TKR I. The Office of Vice-President 351 

" 11. Early Days in Business Life 359 

" III. Political Career 367 

" IV. Domestic Life 379 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
PRINCIPLES OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 

PAGE. 

Chapter I. The Principles of Washington 3S5 



II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 
VI. 



Jefferson 390 

Madison 393 

Jackson 396 

Tilden 403 

Tariff Reform 4JI 

/ 



LIVES OF ALL THE PRESIDENTS. 

George Washington 439 

John Adams 451 

Thomas Jefferson 455 

James Madison 461 

James Monroe ..464 

John Quincy Adams 468 

Andrew Jackson 472 

Martin Van Buren 479 

William Henry Harrison 482 

John Tyler 486 

James Knox Polk 490 

Zachary Taylor 494 

Millard Fillmore 499 

Franklin Pierce 503 

James Buchanan 506 

ABRAHAM Lincoln 511 

Andrew Johnson 519 

Ulysses S. Grant 522 

Rutherford B. Hayes 530 

James A. Garfield 532 

Chester A. Arthur 537 

Benjamin Harrison 541 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE. 

Grover Cleveland, (Steel ) Frontispiece. 

State Street and Capitol, Albany, N. Y 52 

Governor's Mansion, " " 66 

Governor's Room in Statk Catitoi 84 

South Front, White IIoi'se 90 

Hon. John M. Palmer (II If-tonc) 100 

Democratic Nominating Convention ok 1SS4... 108 

Governor Roswell P. Flower 116 

East Front of Cai'ITOL, Washington 120 

Starting for the Lnauguration 132 

Thomas F. Bayard 138 

Augustus II. Garland 142 

William C. Whitney i }6 

W. C. Endicott 150 

William F. Vilas 154 

Thomas A. Hendricks 158 

Samuel J. Tilden 158 

L. Q. C. Lamar 176 

Mrs. Grover Cleveland 184 

President Cleveland's Wedding 190 

Rose E. Cleveland 194 

Rev. Byron Sunderland, D. D 194 

The State Dining Room 198 

The East Room 198 

Gov. Robert E. Pattison 215 

Greeting at the Railroad Station 224 

Ex-Governor CAMrBELL 230 

Chief Justice Fuller 284 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Sen. Wade Hampton 300 

William L. Wilson 316 

William M. Springer 332 

Hon. Adlai E, Stevenson (Halftone) 349 

Benton McMillan 366 

W. S. HoLMAN 382 

Hon, W. R. Morrison 398 

Charles F. Crisp (Halftone) 414 

Arthur P. Gorman " 430 

Hon. Isaac P. Gray '« 434 

Henry Watterson " ~ 452 

Gov. PIorace Boies " 468 

Calvin S. Price " 484 

David B. Hill " 500 

Gov. William E. Russell (Half-tone) 516 



CHAPTER I. 

PARENTAGE, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION. 

G ROVER CLEVELAND was born at Cald- 
well, Essex County, N. J., on the i8th 
day of March, 1837. His father, Richard 
F. Cleveland, was a Presbyterian minister, the 
son of William Cleveland, a watchmaker, who 
lived at Norwich, Conn. His mother was Anna 
Neal, the daughter of an Irishman, a bookseller 
and publisher in Baltimore, Md., who had married 
Barbara Real, a German Quakeress, of German- 
town, Pa. The child who has become President 
of the United States was baptized in infancy Ste- 
phen Grover, the name of his father's predecessor 
in the Caldwell pastorate, but early in life young 
Cleveland dropped the first name. 

In 1 841 the Rev. Richard F. Cleveland moved to 
Fayetteville, Onondaga County, N. Y. The fam- 
ily lived there nine years and then removed to 
Clinton, Oneida County, and in 1853 to Holland 
Patent, a small village fifteen miles north of Utica. 
Three weeks after he began his ministry here he 
died, leaving a widow and nine children, of whom 
Grover was the third. 

The mother upon whom this sudden responsi- 
bility had fallen was a woman of dignified appear- 
ance, with a kindly face and unusual strength of 

21 



22 . LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

character. She combined the traits of her Irish and 
German ancestors. She Hved to rear and educate 
her large family and died in April, 1882. Mr. 
and Mrs. Cleveland are buried in the cemetery at 
Holland Patent. Their children have erected a 
monument to mark their graves It bears the 
foUowinp- inscriptions : 

Rev. R. F. CLEVELAND, 

Pastor at 

Holland Patent, 

Died Oct. i, 1853 

Aged 49 years. 



ANNA NEAL, 

Wife of 

R. F. Cleveland, 

Died July 10, 1882, 

Aged 78 years. 
Her children arise up 
And call her blessed. 

Grover had received such teaching as the 
country schools could furnish. But his father's 
narrow means compelled him to earn his living as 
soon as possible, and when he was fourteen years 
of age he became a clerk in a country store at 
Fayetteville. His salary the first year was fifty 
dollars, and he was to have one hundred dollars 
the second year. The removal of the family to 
Clinton gave Grover an opportunity to attend the 
academy there, and he left Fayetteville before the 
end of the second year. At Clinton he pursued 
the usual preparatory studies, intending to enter 



PARENTAGE, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION. 23 

Hamilton College. But his father's death shut 
him out of college and compelled him to begin the 
struggle of life. He was then seventeen years 
old. 

His elder brother William had found employ- 
ment as a teacher in the New York Institution for 
the Blind, which is situated on Ninth Avenue 
between Thirty-third and Thirty-fourth streets^ 
In October, 1853, William was appointed princi- 
pal in the male department, and about the same 
time Grover was appointed his assistant. The 
pupils were taught orally, there being at that time 
few text-books which could be read by the sense 
of touch. Grover remained at the institution a 
little more than a year. He passed the winter 
of 1854-5 at his mother's house in Holland Patent 
This was the last of his home life. A neighbor, 
the late Ingham Townsend, who had become 
Interested in the youth, proposed to him that he 
should enter college with a view of making the 
ministry his profession, but the young man's mind 
was already fixed upon the law, and declining his 
friend's offer, he asked him for a loan of twenty- 
five dollars, to carry him to Cleveland, Ohio, where 
he hoped for employment in a lawyer's office. 
On his way west he stopped in Buffalo to visit his 
uncle, Lewis F. Allen. Mr. Allen, who is still 
living at an advanced age, was one of the most 
influential citizens of Buffalo. He was the owner 
of a large farm on Grand Island, in the Niagara 



24 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

river, where he had a herd of short-horn catde, 
and Hved at Black Rock, formerly a separate 
town, but which had been lately annexed to 
Buffalo. Mr. Allen's house is pleasantly situated 
on the bank of the river, and in the midst of con- 
siderable grounds. It is an ample old-fashioned 
brick building, and was built by General Peter B. 
Porter, who lived there for many years. A broad 
hall runs from the front door to the western 
piazza, which commands a wide view of the 
Niagara and the Canadian shore. A mile or two 
to the north-west are the ruins of Fort Erie, 
the scene of desperate fighting during the War of 
1 812, in which General Porter had been gready 
distinguished. At this point the river is an inter- 
esting sight. It sweeps by with a current oi 
between six and seven miles an hour and its broad 
green surface is flecked with foam and broken by 
countless eddies. It is not difficult for one who 
looks upon the tumultuous river and listens to its 
deep voice to imagine that it feels some premoni- 
tion of the agony which awaits it below. Grover 
was no stranger to his uncle's hospitable roof 
He had made frequent visits there during his 
boyhood. He told Mr. Allen of his intention to 
go to Cleveland and study law. But his uncle 
strongly advised him to remain in Buffalo. The 
young man had no acquaintances in Cleveland, 
while Mr. Allen knew all the principal people in 
Buffalo and held close and friendly relations with 



PARENTAGE, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION. 25 

them. Mr. Allen had, not long before, begun the 
compilation of the "Short-horn Herd Book," and 
he proposed that Grover should assist him, offering 
him compensation and a comfortable home. In 
the autumn, on Mr. Allen's application, Grover 
entered the law office of Henr^^ W. Rogers and 
Denis Bowen, who, under the firm name of Roeers 
& Bowen, did a large business at the bar of 
Erie County. Thus began Grover Cleveland's 
life in Buffalo. 

It may be well enough to consider his surround- 
ings. Buffalo was then a city with about one 
hundred thousand inhabitants. It was a com- 
mercial and manufacturing community, and held 
in its control the lake commerce, then growling 
into great dimensions. There were many notable 
men among its citizens. Mr. Fillmore had two 
years before left the Presidency and returned to 
live there. His neighbor, Nathan K. Hall, who 
had served in his cabinet as Postmaster-General, 
was United States Judge of the Northern District 
of New York. Solomon G. Haven, a lawyer of 
remarkable talent, then a member of Congress, 
was the leader of the bar. Retired from his pro- 
fession and from politics was Albert H. Tracy, 
who may be described as the most interesting 
and distinguished figure in Buffalo at that time. 
He had been chosen to Cono-ress before he was 
old enough to take his seat, and had served in 
the House of Representatives during the admin- 



26 LIFE OF GROl^ER CLEVELAND. 

istrations of Monroe and John Quincy Adams, 
he had been for eight years in the State Senate ; 
and in the Court of Errors he had won a judicial 
reputation, hardly inferior to any in the history of 
the State. He had acted both with the Whig and 
the Democratic parties. But it was his misfortune 
to be out of relation, in both instances, with the 
leader of his parties. He despised Jackson, and 
disliked Clay. He had assisted Seward, Weed, 
and Fillmore to create the Whig party, and left it 
in 1840, in the hour of its triumph. Mr. Webster 
tried to persuade him into Tyler s cabinet with 
the offer of the Treasury Department, but he 
declined, preferring, doubtless, to- retain his Dem- 
ocratic associations which the acceptance of Mr. 
Webster's offer would have broken. Mr. Tracy 
never held office afterwards. He devoted so 
much (3f his time as was necessary to the care of 
his estate, but gave himself chiefly to reading and 
the society of those who interested him. Mr. 
Tracy exercised a great influence over all young 
men who came within his reach, and it is impos- 
sible to speak of Buffalo at that time without 
recalling his gracious presence, his kindly counsels 
and his delightful and instructive conversation. 
Mr. Allen was one of Mr. Tracy's intimate 
friends and the nephew was soon taken to the 
Tracy house. 

The gentlemen who made the firm of Rogers 
& Bowen were both notable men. Henry W. 



Pa RE NT A GE, EARLY L IFE, AND ED UCA TION. 2 ) 

Renders was a large man with a somewhat loud 
but hearty manner. He had at command a great 
store of anecdote, and without being witty he 
easily said smart things, and still more easily 
bitter ones. Mr. Rogers was the advocate of the 
firm, and was a strong jury lawyer. 

Denis Bowen was a very different person. He 
was quiet and unobtrusive, never went into court, 
nor ever sought publicity. He was a master of 
detail, an excellent business lawyer, with a calm 
dispassionate judgment to which his clients 
trusted implicitly. Beneath a somewhat cold 
manner was hidden a most gentle disposition, and 
Denis Bowen was not only greatly respected, but 
greatly loved by those among whom he lived. 

At that time upon the bench of the Superior 
Court were Isaac A. Verplanck, Joseph G. Hasten 
and George W. Clinton. The latter of these is still 
extensively known, and I will, therefore, not speak 
of him. Judge Verplanck had a vigorous and 
thoroughly unpartial mind, and a huge unwieldy 
body. No one could ever find how much he 
weighed. He once made a journey to the plains 
in the stage-coach days, with Mr. Fargo and a 
party of gentlemen. It was arranged that the 
coach should be driven on to the scales at the next 
station and weighed, passengers and all, and then. 
Verplanck' s weight was to be got by deducting 
the weight of the coach and the other passengers. 
But no sooner did the driver pull up than the 



28 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Judge, who was as quick of mind as slow of body, 
saw what his friends were at, and jumped from 
the coach before its weight could be taken. Judge 
Verplanck was a good lawyer and an excellent 
judge. As a nisi prius judge he could not be 
excelled. His dislike of work made him impa- 
tient of delay, and eager to get through. Busi- 
ness before him was done rapidly. But it Avas in 
criminal cases that his generous heart showed 
itself. There was little danger that injustice 
would be done in his court to any criminal, how- 
ever wretched, friendless, or guilty. Once he 
sent for a young lawyer and asked him to defend a 
man charged with murder. The youthful advocate 
pleaded his inexperience and dread of the respon- 
sibility. '* Have no fear," said the Judge; "I 
will see to it that your client does not suffer." 
In private Judge Verplanck was the pleasantest 
of companions. He was fond of food, of wine 
and good company. There was no bitterness in 
his temper, but always a genial sunshine which 
made him welcome everywhere. 

Joseph G. Masten was by far the most learned 
lawyer in Buffalo. Those who knew him and 
others well enough to judge, thought there was 
no better lawyer anywhere. Like Verplanck, he 
had a great social charm, and was a prominent 
figure in a society full of able and interesting 
men. 

After the death of Mr. Haven, which took place 



PARENTAGE, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION 



2^ 



in 1 86 1, John Garlson came to be the leader of 
the Buffalo bar. He had a clear and vigorous 
intellect and untiring industry. He had been 
carefully educated and thoroughly trained for his 
profession. No one could equal him in the care 
with which his causes were prepared, nor in the 
clearness with which, brushinor aside all extrane- 
ous matter, he presented the essential points of 
his argument. He had no eloquence, but liis 
lucidity and conciseness, and his instinct for the 
strong points of a case, made him a very success- 
ful advocate. He served with distinction in Con- 
gress and in the State Senate, and his sudden 
death, in 1874, brought to a close a career which 
was full of promise. 

The principal person in Buffalo society at that 
time was Dr. Walter Cary, a gentleman widely 
known in this country and in Europe. The doc- 
tor had retired from his profession by reason of 
delicate health. A large estate and a ready dis- 
position to new enterprises, gave him abundant 
occupation. Travel and society were his chief 
pleasures, and the influence of his example did 
much to give to Buffalo its reputation for hospi- 
tality. 

Albert Haller Tracy was the oldest son of 
Albert H. Tracy, mentioned above. He and 
Grover Cleveland were about the same age. 
After his father's death, by which event he came 
into a large fortune, Tracy retired from the pro- 



30 Life of g rover cLevelanIj. 

fesslon in which he might easily have won distinc- 
tion. He had a mind remarkable for judgment 
and moderation. His knowledge of men and 
affairs was extensive, his reading considerable, 
and his memory most retentive. 

I have mentioned the most prominent men in 
the city in which Grover Cleveland had made his 
home, where his character was to be formed, his 
career begun, and where he was to find an 
entrance, if he ever did, into the path which 
should lead him to fame and greatness. I have, 
however, spoken only of the dead. There are 
many living persons who should be mentioned, if 
it were intended to make a complete description 
of the associations in which Cleveland found him- 
self ; but I am not permitted to speak of the living 
with the freedom which would be necessary. 

It will thus be seen that before he was twenty 
years old, Cleveland had begun the study of his 
profession under most favorable circumstances. 
He was in the family of an uncle who lived com- 
fortably and well. He was thrown into associa- 
tion with men of talent and distinction. He was 
in the employ of a firm of able and successful 
lawyers, who were entrusted with very important 
affairs. 

Thenceforth there was no element of hardship 
in Cleveland's life. He probably never knew 
what want was. He had all that it was possible 
to have. He had opportunity as full and com- 



PARENTAGE, EARLY LIFE, AND EDUCATION. 3I 

plete as if he had been born to wealth. Indeed, 
he had, in the necessity for exertion, a stimulant 
and a training which wealth could not have given 
him. The transplanted tree had found a con- 
genial soil. 

Grover Cleveland remained with Rogers & 
Bowen, as student and clerk, until 1863. At the 
outbreak of the war, the question had come to 
him as to the duty he owed his country. While 
teaching in New York, and while studying in 
Buffalo, he had always sent whatever money he 
could spare to his mother. He was then earning 
enough to make his contributions of importance 
to the family. It was therefore decided that the 
two younger brothers should go to the army, and 
that the bread winner should stay and work for 
the support of his mother and sisters. 

In 1872, these younger brothers, who had rep- 
resented the family in the army during the Civil 
War, were drowned at sea, in the burning of the 
Steamship Missouri near the Island of Abaco, 
October 2 2d. In that disaster they exhibited un- 
usual coolness and courage ; they stood by the 
boats when they were lowered and helped the 
passengers into them, doing the work the fright- 
ened officers should have done. But when the 
boats were lowered there was no room for them 
and they went down with the ship. 



CHAPTER II. 

HIS CAREER AT THE BUFFALO BAR. 

G ROVER CLEVELAND had been admit- 
ted to the bar In 1859, and in January, 1 863, 
he was appointed Assistant District Attor- 
ney for the County of Erie. This position brought 
young Cleveland into court, and accustomed him to 
the trial of causes. Atthattime the District Attorney 
had but one assistant, and upon him fell a large 
share of the work of the office. His industry 
and evenness of temper fitted him, peculiarly, 
for his duties, and he soon held a more important 
relation to the public business than it had been 
usual for an Assistant District Attorney to have. 
This was, perhaps, due, in part, to the fact that 
Mr. Torrance, the District Attorney, did not live 
in the city, but in a village twenty-five miles dis- 
tant. He therefore naturally left much to the 
capable and Industrious assistant, who was con- 
stantly at hand. The three years In the District 
Attorney's office were of great value to Cleve- 
land. They gave him confidence In himself, 
accustomed him to the trial of causes and to 
addressing juries ; enabled him to make a wide 
acquaintance among the people in the country 
32 



HIS CAREER Ar THE BUFFALO BAR. 3^ 

towns, as well as in the city, and attracted to him 
the attention of clients and the bar. 

The Assistant District Attorneyship also 
brought him into politics. From the time of his 
acceptance of that office, he was known as a 
Democratic politician. Mr. Dean Richmond, a 
man of singular ability and force of character, 
was then the principal Democrat in Western New 
York, and governed local affairs with a firm hand. 
At the expiration of Mr. Torrance's term, Cleve- 
land received the Democratic nomination for 
District Attorney. His nomination to so import- 
ant an office, when he was only twenty-nine years 
old, is the strongest evidence that can be given 
of the standing he had obtained in the community 
and in his profession. His opponent was Lyman 
K. Bass, a young Republican lawyer, afterwards 
a member of Congress, and who has been pre- 
vented by ill-health from completely fulfilling the 
promise of his youth. After a heated canvass, 
Cleveland was beaten, a result not to be wondered 
at, for the county then usually went Republican. 
An old political friend well remembers meeting 
Cleveland the day after the election, and recalls 
the perfect coolness and good humor with which 
he took his defeat. 

He at once resumed the practice of his profession, 
and soon formed a partnership with the late 
Isaac V. Vanderpool. In 1 867, the late William Dor- 
sheimer having been appointed, by President John- 



34- ^iFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

son, United States Attorney for the Northern 
District of New York, offered Cleveland an 
appointment as Assistant District Attorney. This 
offer he declined, for the reason that the duties of 
the office would require frequent absence from 
the city, and he preferred to attend to his rapidly- 
growing clientage. He soon after became asso- 
ciated with the late A. P. Lanning and Oscar 
Folsom, a young companion of Cleveland, who 
had taken the Assistant Attorneyship which the 
former had declined. The name of the new firm 
was Lanning, Cleveland & Folsom. The daugh- 
ter of the last named gentleman is now the Pres- 
ident's wife. 

In the autumn of 1870, Cleveland's polit- 
ical friends offered him the nomination for 
sheriff of the county. " Now," said he, to 
a friend whose advice he asked, " I know 
that it is not usual for lawyers to be sheriffs. 
I do not remember of any lawyer being a sheriff. 
But, there are some reasons why I should consider 
the matter carefully. I have been compelled to 
earn my living since I was seventeen. I have 
never had time for reading, nor for thorough pro- 
fessional study. The sheriff's ofifice would take 
me out of practice, but it would keep me about 
the courts, and in professional relations. It would 
give me considerable leisure, which I could devote 
to self-improvement. Besides, it would enable 
me to save a modest competency, and give me 



HIS CAREER AT THE BUFFALO BAR. 35 

the pecuniary independence which otherwise I 
may never have. I have come for your advice. 
What would you do in my place?" 

His friend strongly recommended him to accept 
the nomination. He received the same advice from 
other friends. He took the nomination and was 
elected. Naturally, some of the duties of the 
sheriff's office were grievously distasteful to him, 
but he performed them with that strong sense of 
duty which has always characterized him. 

He used the opportunities of the position as he 
had said he would. He made a considerable 
saving, and he gave his leisure time to profes- 
sional and other studies. As soon as he returned 
to the bar the effect was noticeable. He was a 
stroneer and a broader man than he had been 
before, and he at once took a higher place than 
he had ever held. 

At the close of his term as sheriff, he formed a 
partnership with his old" antagonist, Lyman K. 
Bass, and Wilson S. Bissell. Failing health com- 
pelled Mr. Bass to remove to Colorado, and after- 
wards Mr. George J. Sicard entered the firm, 
which was known as Cleveland, Bissell & Sicard. 
From this time, 1874, until his elecdon as Mayor, 
Cleveland practiced his profession with constantly 
increasing success. He came to have great skill 
in trying causes, and his arguments to the court In 
banc were noticeable for lucidity and thorough- 
ness. Many important matters were entrusted to 



36 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

him, and before he again took office he was 
beginning to receive large fees. There can be 
no doubt that, had he remained at the bar, he 
would have won a'^ ^t-eat a success as the theatre 
in which he acted permit. 

But during the.^ j^\ iS of professional labor, 
Cleveland was not indifferent to politics. Indeed, 
he was all the time si ^unsellor of his party. 
After the death of Dean' Richtnon^, in 1866, 
Joseph Warren, the edito^^Sf the Courier, became 
the head of the Democ nic organization in Buf- 
falo. He was a native of Vermont, who had, 
when a very young man, gone to Albany, and 
from there to Buffalo. ' ^"^und employment in 

the editorial office of the rier, while the late 

William A. Seaver was s proprietor and editor. 
Upon the retirement of Mr. Seaver, he succeeded 
to the control of the paper -^nd was one of its prin- 
cipal owners. Mr. Wan en directed party affairs 
with great judgment and self-control. He never 
aspired to office himself, was very appreciative of 
the talents of others, and always ready to aid in 
advancing the fortunes of his friends. He was, 
besides, a promoter o^ all the generous enter- 
prises which promised to add to the prosperity of 
the city. All the public institutions were aided by 
his wise counsel and unselfish labors. Mr. War- 
ren was a warm friend o^ Cleveland's, and was 
one of the first to recognize his talents and predict 
his success. He died in 1876, and thenceforward 



HIS CAREER AT THE BUFFALO BAR. 



Zl 



Cleveland was drawn Into more responsible politi- 
cal relations. He was not willing to take the local 
leadership, which he might easily have had, for he 
could not give to it the necessary time and atten- 
tion. But he served ov\ pa ^y committees, and 
there was little done in * ^', matters in Buffalo 
as to which his advice was not taken. When he 
went to Albany, many 'lought him ignorant of 
political n|":thods. i.ac they were greatly mis- 
taken. Few men kn . vv practical politics better 
than he. 

During all these years,he had been a Democrat 
of Democrats. Through good report and evil 
report, he had stood ""'^h his party. Neither 
success nor defeat jor an instant, diminished 

his allegiance or his lk^s> 

During the early period of Cleveland's Buffalo 
life the city had begun a new career. Its wealth 
had greatly increasei^...and a number of young 
men with more education than their elders had 
become active in affairs. A desire for a higher 
civilization began to show itself The Young 
Men's Association, which maintained a small 
library and a course k}\.^ public lectures in the 
winter, had long been the principal, and it may be 
said the only literary society. But it had lan- 
guished upon a meagre income. During this time 
a movement was set cioot to secure an endow- 
ment for it. Througa the exertion of several 
gentlemen, among whom the late S. V, R. Wat- 



-38 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



son was most prominent, a fund of between 
eighty and ninety thousand dollars was raised by 
subscription and the sale of life-memberships. A 
valuable property was purchased and the associa- 
tion provided with an abundant income. During 
this period the Buffalo Historical Society, of which 
Mr. Fillmore was the first president, was formed, 
and also the Buffalo Academy of Fine Arts. Both 
of these institutions excited the interest of the 
more liberal citizens. It doubtless seemed to 
many, an ambitious undertaking to establish an 
Academy of Fine Arts in a place so given over to 
business as Buffalo. Once, in those early days, 
Ralph Waldo Emerson went through the gallery, 
which was then largely made up of pictures on 
sale contributed by the artists of New York and 
Boston, but which also contained a number of 
works, the property of the academy, that were 
worthy of attention. Said the philosopher : ' * This 
has begun well and will come to something in the 
course of the ages." Indeed those who began the 
work knew as well as any one, how little could be 
done during their life-time, but they thought a 
beginning should be made. To this period, also, 
belongs the Society of Natural History, which 
owes its success chiefly to the scientific zeal of 
George W. Clinton. 

Any traveler who, to-day, shall visit the Institu- 
tions I have mentioned, and thoroughly examine 
their collections, will be surprised to find how 



HIS CAREER AT THE BUFFALO BAR. 



39 



much has been accompHshed in twenty-five years. 
He will see that Buffalo has become the centre of 
literary, artistic and scientific activities, and that 
forces have been set at work which are sure to 
strengthen with time, and to greatly influence 
the character of the place and the lives of its 
people. 

Grover Cleveland was hardly old enough to 
take part in the beginning of these things. But 
he has done his share of work in building them 
up to their present prosperous state. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE MAYORALTY AND MUNICIPAL REFORM. 

EIGHT years ago Grover Cleveland was, 
as has been seen, living quietly in Buffalo 
and practicing law. Neither he nor any 
one foresaw the career which was before him^ and 
upon which he was soon to enter. This may be 
said without disparagement, for if any intelligent 
resident of Buffalo had been asked to name a 
citizen who was by nature fit to be Governor and 
President, he would have been more likely to 
mention Cleveland than any other man in the 
place. 

The National defeat of 1880 had not seriously 
impaired Democratic strength in Buffalo, and 
when the municipal election of 1881 drew near 
there was a strong feeling that a proper person 
could be elected to the Mayoralty by the Demo- 
crats. City affairs were in an unsatisfactory state, 
and there was a general feeling in favor of munici- 
pal reform. The party leaders urged Cleveland 
to take the nomination. At first he refused, but 
it was pressed upon him with such urgency, and 
with so strong an appeal to his sense of duty, that 
he at last consented. His candidacy led to a 
spirited canvass, and to his election by a majority 
40 • 



MA YORAL TV AM) MUNICIPAL REFORM. 41 

of 3500, the largest ever known in the history of 
the city. 

He took office as Mayor on the istday of Jan- 
uary, 1882. He at once called to his side, as his 
secretary, M r. Harmon S. Cutting, a devoted friend, 
and a lawyer of excellent standing and great expe- 
rience, who was unrivalled for his knowledge of 
municipal law. Mr. Cleveland entered upon his 
office with a strongf feeling that the affairs of 
the municipality should, so far as possible, be 
kept apart from party politics. He could not 
see why the paving, lighting, and cleaning of 
streets, should depend upon the exigencies of 
parties which had been formed upon lines of state 
or national policy. His first resolve was to do 
what he thought the interests of the city required, 
without reference to the effect his action would 
have upon either the Democratic or the Republi- 
can party. In his speech accepting the nomination 
for Mayor, he said : " There is, or there should 
be, no reason why the affairs of our city should 
not be managed with the same care and the same 
economy as private interests ; and when we con- 
sider that public officials are the trustees of the 
people and hold their places and exercise their 
powers for the benefit of the people, there should 
be no higher inducement to a faithful and honest 
discharge of public duty." In his inaugural mes- 
sage, he used the following language : 

"We hold the money of the people in our 



42 LIFE OF GROVEk CLEVELAND. 

hands, to be used for their purposes and to fui 
ther their interests as members of the municl 
pahty, and it is quite apparent that, when any part 
of the funds which the taxpayers have thus 
intrusted to us are diverted to other purposes, or 
when, by design or neglect, we allow a greater 
sum to be applied to any municipal purpose than 
is necessary, we have, to that extent, violated our 
duty. There surely is no difference in his duties 
and obligations, w^hether a person is intrusted 
with the money of one man or many." 

These two declarations laid down the rule by 
which he meant to be guided. A trust had been 
placed in his hands, and as a trust he intended to 
administer his office. The public moneys were to 
be dealt with as private moneys are dealt with, by 
a competent and honest trustee. This rule he at 
once rigidly applied to municipal affairs. He applied 
it, in a striking manner, to a resolution which was 
passed by the city council appropriating five hun- 
dred dollars to defray the expenses attending a 
proper observance of Decoration Day. It was 
proposed, that this sum of money should be paid 
out of what was known as the Fourth of July fund, 
and therefore the resolution was obnoxious to a 
provision in the charter of the city, which made 
it a misdemeanor to appropriate money raised for 
one purpose to any other object. Upon this 
ground he refused to approve the resolution. 
But he also placed his refusal upon broadef 



Ma yora lty and Municipa l reform. 43^ 

grounds. In his veto message, among other 
things, he said : 

"I deem the object of this appropriation a most 
worthy one. The efforts of our veteran soldiers 
to keep aHve the memory of their fallen comrades 
certainly deserves the aid and encouragement of 
their fellow-citizens. We should all, I think, feel 
it a duty and a privilege to contribute to the funds 
necessary to carry out such a purpose. And 1 
should be much disappointed if an appeal to our 
citizens for voluntary subscriptions for this patri. 
otic object should be in vain. 

*' But the money so contributed should be a free 
gift of the citizens and taxpayers, and should not 
be extorted from them by taxation. This is so, 
because the purpose for which this money Is asked 
does not involve their protection or interest as 
members of the community, and it may or may 
not be approved by them. 

"The people are forced to pay taxes into the 
city treasury only upon the theory that such ^ 
money shall be expended for public purposes, or ' 
purposes in which they all have a direct and practi- "^ 
cal interest. 

" The logic of this position leads directly to the 
conclusion that, if the people are forced to pay - 
their money into the public fund and it is spent by'" 
dieir servants and agents for purposes In which the '" 
people as taxpayers have no interest, the exaction "'' 
of such taxes from them is oppressive and unjtist; '"' 



44 LiM OP GkOvPR CLlLVELAND. 

"I cannot rid myself of the idea that this cit) 
government, in its relation to the taxpayers, is a 
business establishment, and that it is put in our 
hands to be conducted on business principles. 

'' This theory does not admit of our donating 
the public funds in the manner contemplated by 
the action of your honorable body. 

"I deem it my duty, therefore, to return both 
of the resolutions herein referred to without my 
approval." 

This act attracted the attention of the whole 
community. The leading newspapers, without dis- 
tinction of party, gave it their approval. But in 
order that the object for which the money had 
been voted should be accomplished, a subscription 
was at once set afoot, which the Mayor headed by 
a liberal contribution. He soon had an opportu- 
nity to apply his principles to a more important 
matter. The City Council had awarded the con- 
tract for cleaning the streets for five years for the 
sum of four hundred and twenty-two thousand, 
five hundred dollars. Another party had offered 
to do the work for one hundred thousand dollars 
less, and the person to whom the contract had 
been given had himself, a few weeks before, pro- 
posed to perform the same service for fifty thou- 
sand less. This scandalous transaction was dealt 
with by the Mayor with a commendable directness 
and frankness ; he returned the resolution with a 
message, which contained the following language : 



Mayoralty ANti Municipal reform. 



45 



" This is a time for plain speech, and my objec- 
tion to the action of your honorable body now 
under consideration shall be plainly stated. I 
withhold my assent from the same, because I regard 
it as the culmination of a most barefaced, impudent 
and shameless scheme to betray the interests of 
the people, and to worse than squander the public 
money. 

" I will not be misunderstood in this matter. 
There are those whose votes were given for this 
resolution whom I cannot and will not suspect of 
a willful neglect of the interests they are sworn to 
protect ; but it has been fully demonstrated that 
there are influences, both in and about your hon- 
orable body, which it behooves every honest man 
to watch and avoid with the greatest care. 

"When cool judgment rules the hour, the people 
will, I hope and believe, have no reason to com- 
plain of the action of your honorable body. But 
clumsy appeals to prejudice or passion, insinua- 
tions, with a kind of low, cheap cunning, as to the 
motives and purposes of others, and the mock 
heroism of brazen effrontery which openly declares 
that a wholesome public sentiment is to be set at 
naught, sometimes deceives and leads honest men 
to aid in the consummation of schemes, which, if 
exposed, they would look upon with abhorrence. 

" If the scandal in connection with this street 
cleaning contract, which has so aroused our citi- 
zens, shall cause them to select and watch with 



46 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELaM. 

more care those to whom they Intrust their Inter 
ests, and if it serves to make all of us who are 
charged with official duties more careful in their 
performance, It will not be an unmitigated evil. 

"■ We are fast gaining positions In the grades of 
public stewardship. There is no middle ground. 
Those who are not lor the people, either in or out 
of your honorable body, are against them, and 
should be treated accordingly." 

This bold and honorable act attracted wide at- 
tention, and laid the foundation of a reputation 
which soon extended throughout the State. 

Mr. Cleveland continued to apply to the affairs 
of Buffalo the same Inflexible rule of administering 
his office as though It were a trust. There can 
be no doubt that the result was a success greater 
than has ever been accomplished upon so narrow 
a political field as a single municipality. At home, 
the favor which he obtained was quite universal. 
All party differences disappeared before a public 
officer who performed his duties with so complete 
a reference to the general welfare. 

During the short term of his mayoralty there 
were several occasions which compelled him to 
speak upon important topics. But whatever sub- 
ject he dealt with was presented In the light of 
the principle he had from the first declared should 
guide his conduct. In speaking at the semi-cen- 
tennial celebration of the foundation of the city, 
July 3d, 1882, he said: 



MA YORAL TV AND MUNICIPAL REFORM. 47 

" We boast of our citizenship to-night. Bui 
this citizenship brings with it duties not itnlike those 
we owe our neighbor and our God. There is no 
better time than this for self-examination. He 
who deems himself too pure and holy to take part 
in the affairs of his city, will meet the fact that 
better men than he have thought it their duty to 
do so. * He who cannot spare a moment in his 
greed and selfishness to devote to public con- 
cerns, will, perhaps, find a well- grounded fear 
that he may become the prey of public plun- 
derers ; and he who indolently cares not who 
administers the government of his city, will find 
that he is living falsely, and in the neglect of his 
highest duty." 

When laying the corner-stone of the Young 
Vlen's Christian Association building, on the 7 th of 
September, 1882, he used the following language : 
'' We all hope and expect that our city has 
entered upon a course of unprecedented pros- 
perity and growth. But to my mind not all 
the signs about us point more surely to real great- 
ness than the event which we here celebrate. 
Good and pure government lies at the foundatiofi 
of the wealth and progress of every conimu7iity. As 
the chief executive of this proud city, I congratu- 
late all my fellow-citizens that to-day we lay the 
foundation stone of an edifice which shall be a 
beautiful ornament, and, what is more important, 
shall enclose within its walls such earnest Christian 



48 LiPE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

endeavors as must make easier all our efforts to 
administer safely and honestly a good municipal 
government." 

These utterances disclose the high moral pur- 
pose in which his whole nature seemed to be 
absorbed, and which he was, in a measure, com- 
pelled to profess upon every occasion when he 
was required to address the people. Perhaps 
there was no occasion on which he made so clear 
a revelation of himself and his character as by the 
address which he delivered on the 9th of April, 
1882, when taking the chair at a mass meeting to 
protest against the treatment of American citizens 
imprisoned abroad. This short speech is worthy 
of the careful attention of all those who wish to 
understand his mind and character: 

" Fellow Citizens. — This is the formal mode 
of address on occasions of this kind, but I think 
we seldom realize fully its meaning or how valu- 
able a thing it is to be a citizen. 

'' From the earliest civilization to be a citizen 
has been to be a free man, endowed with certain 
privileges and advantages, and entitled to the full 
protection of the State. The defense and protec- 
tion of the personal rights of its citizens has always 
been the paramount and most important duty of 
a free, enlightened government. 

" And perhaps no government has this sacred 
trust more in its keeping than this — the best and 
freest of them all ; for here the people who are to 



MA YORAL TV AND MUNICIPAL REFORM. 49 

be protected are the source of those powers which 
they delegate upon the express compact that the 
citizen shall be protected. For this purpose we 
chose those who, for the time being, shall manage 
the machinery which we have set up for our 
defense and safety. 

'* And this protection adheres to us in all lands 
and places as an incident of citizenship. Let but 
the weight of a sacrilegious hand be put upon this 
sacred thing, and a great strong government 
springs to its feet to avenge the wrong. Thus it 
is that the native born American citizen enjoys his 
birthright. But when, in the westward march of 
empire, this nation was founded and took root, 
we beckoned to the Old World, and invited hither 
its immigration, and provided a mode by which 
those who sought a home among us might become 
our fellow citizens. They came by thousands and 
hundreds of thousands ; they came and 

Hewed the dark old woods away, 
And gave the virgin fields to day ; 

they came with strong sinews and brawny arms 
to aid in the growth and progress of a new coun- 
try ; they came, and upon our altars laid their 
fealty and submission ; they came to our temples 
of justice, and under the solemnity of an oath 
renounced all allegiance to every other State, 
potentate and sovereignty, and surrendered to us 
all the duty pertaining to such allegiance. We 



50 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

have accepted their fealty, and invited them to 
surrender the protection of their native land. 

''And what should be given them in return? 
Manifestly, good faith and every dictate of honor 
demand that we give them the same liberty and 
protection here and elsewhere which we vouchsafe 
to our native-born citizens. And that this has 
been accorded to them is the crowning glory of 
American institutions. 

''It needed not the statute, which is now the, 
law of the .land, declaring that all 'naturalized 
citizens w^hile in forei^rn lands are entitled to and 
shall receive from this government the same pro- 
tection of person and property which is accorded 
to native-born citizens,' to voice the policy of our 
nation. 

"In all lands where the semblance of liberty Is 
preserved, the right of a person arrested to a 
speedy accusation and trial is, or ought to be, a 
fundamental law, as it Is a rule of civilization. 

'•At any rate, we hold it to be so, and this is 
one of the rights which we undertake to guarantee 
to any native-born or naturalized citizen of ours, 
whether he be imprisoned by order of the Czar 
of Russia or under the pretext of a law admin- 
istered for the benefit of the landed aristocracy 
of England. 

"We do not claim to make laws for other 
countries, but we do insist that whatever those 
\aws may be they shall, in the interests of human 



MA YORALTY AND MUNICIPAL REFORM, 5 I 

fieedom and the rights of mankind, so far as they 
involve the hberty of our citizens, be speedily 
administered. We have a right to say, and do 
say, that mere suspicion without examination or 
trial, is not sufficient to justify the long imprison- 
ment of a citizen of America. Other nations 
may permit their citizens to be thus imprisoned. 
Ours will not. And this in effect has been 
solemnly declared by statute. 

**We have met here to-night to consider this 
subject and to inquire into the cause and the 
reasons and the justice of the imprisonment of 
certain of our fellow-citizens now held in British 
prisons without the semblance of a trial or legal 
examination. Our law declares that the govern- 
ment shall act in such cases. But the people are 
the creators of the government. 

*'The undaunted apostle of the Christian relig 
ion imprisoned and persecuted, appealing centuries 
ago to die Roman law and the rights of Roman 
citizenship, boldly demanded: "Is it lawful for 
you to scourge a man that is a Roman and 
uncondemned? " 

*'So, too, might we ask, appealing to the law 
of our land and the laws of civilization: 'Is it 
lawful that these our fellows be- imprisoned who 
are American citizens and uncortdemned ? ' 
, '*I deem it an honor to be called upon to pre- 
side at such a meeting, and I thank you for it 
What is your further pleasure ? " 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE DEMOCRATIC CANVASS FOR GOVERNOR OF NEW 
YORK IN 1882. 

THE year 1882 was one of political reac- 
tion and surprising revolution. The 
death of Garfield, the succession of Ar- 
thur, the changes in Cabinet and policy, the with- 
drawal of Senators Conkling and Piatt and their 
failure of re-election, and the defeat of the regu- 
lar Republican caucus nominee for United States 
Senator In Pennsylvania, convulsed the politics 
of the two principal States of the Union. In the 
Empire and Keystone States the movements of 
leaders controlled the fortunes of the two great 
parties in whose councils these Commonwealths 
were supreme. Men were everywhere looking 
to the Gubernatorial contests of the year to 
shape the next Presidential campaign and to 
influence the control of the Federal Administra- 
tion, perhaps, for many years to come. 

In New York city and Brooklyn, where the 
contention of the Tammany Society and County 
Democracy had distracted their party for years 
past and led to its defeat In the Gubernatorial 
campaign of 1879, rival candidates were pre- 
53 




STATE STREET AND CAPITOL, ALBANY, NEW YORK. 



CANVASS FOR GOVERNOR. 55 

sented In such well-known personages as Roswell 
P. Flower and General Henry W. Slocum. The 
former was recoofnized as havinof the favor of 
Tammany Hall ; he had wealth, extended busi- 
ness reputation, and the experience of a term in 
Coneress. General Slocum was one of the 
worthiest and most popular soldiers in the War 
for the Union, and had proved his eminent fitness 
for civil duties In Congress. They were pressed 
with a zeal that bid fair to lead to intense bitter- 
ness and possibly to disastrous dissension. Two 
Influences operated to avert the threatened coh 
llsion. 

While the local pride of Buffalo was enlisted 
to promote to the Chief Magistracy of the State 
the Mayor who had served his city so well, and 
while his most ardent supporters there were 
found among the Republicans who had contribu- 
ted to his municipal victory, the eyes of the cool- 
headed party managers at Albany had been turned 
to the *' availability " of a candidate who had al- 
ready exhibited marked elements of political 
strength, and who was remote from the local dis- 
traction of the various halls and factions of the 
o-reat cities of Eastern New York. Mr. Mannlnor 
and others of the discreet and sagacious politi- 
cians who controlled the party organization fully 
satisfied themselves that In the Mayor of Buffalo 
were to be found qualities of successful leadership 
for the campaign then before the party. The del- 



56 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

egates from Western New York were solidly fc 
him. The Tammany people gladly espoused hi^i 
cause rather than risk defeat. On the third bal- 
lot in the State Convention their delegates went 
to Cleveland and his nomination was secured. 

As soon as the canvass opened it was seen that 
the choice had been a wise one. The movement 
for Cleveland rose in the West to a great height 
and ran swiftly through the State. Everywhere 
factional differences were swept away. In New 
Vork the adherents of Tammany and of the 
County and Irving Hall organizations united in 
support of the State ticket, and upon all other 
important nominations. 

Meantimie, in other States, events were pro- 
gressing well calculated to inspire the Democrats 
In Connecticut, Thomas M. Waller led the battle, 
which ended in victory. In Massachusetts, a combi- 
nation of Democrats and Independents, under the 
banner of General B. F. Butler, Vv^as wresting the 
State from Republican control. In Pennsylvania, the 
Independent Republican candidacy of John Stew- 
art, and the nomination of General James A. Bea- 
ver by the regular organization, made easy the elec- 
tion of Robert E. Pattison. 

The Republican dissensions were increased in 
proportion to the growth of Democratic union 
and enthusiasm. Those Republicans who were 
disposed to vote against their party, were not 
deterred by fear of failure. The certainty of 



CANVASS FOk GOVERNOR. 57 

Cleveland's election increased the temptation to 
aid his cause. Thousands were eager to add to 
the weight of the blow which was to fall on the 
Administration and its friends. The Republican 
candidate w^as an eminent citizen. He had shown 
high abilities in many public employments. His 
character was without a stain. He had been 
Chief Justice of the State ; and a long career on 
the bench had won for him that general esteem 
and public favor w^hich successful judicial service 
almost always wins. But the more worthy the 
candidate the more impressive the lesson of his 
defeat. The murder of Garfield was to be 
avenged ; party chains were to be broken ; the 
forgery of a telegram was to be punished, and 
Republican independence and manhood were to 
be asserted. The party difficulties were very 
materially increased also by the attitude of lead- 
incr men. 

Mr. Evarts, who had always been ready to give 
his elaborate eloquence to his party, was silent, and 
what was of far more importance, Roscoe Conk- 
linor also was silent. For more than a decade he 

o 

had been the Republican advocate. His popular 
triumphs had been without precedent. In 1872, 
when Republican supremacy was threatened by a 
revolt, formidable on account of the number and 
the character of the rebels, he excited the Repub- 
licans who remained faithful to their party to un- 
exampled efforts ; efforts which created a Demo- 



58 LIFE OF C ROVER CLEVELAND. 

cratic supineness far more effective at the polls 
than the Hberal Republican rebellion. In 1876 he 
had held his party together amid great discour- 
agements, and upon a lost field. He had after- 
wards stood aloof from the intrigues by which Mr. 
Tilden had been deprived of the office to which 
he had been elected. In 1880, at a time when 
Republican defeat seemed to be certain — when 
Mr. Blaine had been beaten in Maine, and the 
October elections in Ohio and Indiana were in the 
greatest doubt — he reluctantly came forward to 
aid a candidate whom he distrusted and despised. 
He threw himself into the canvass with all his 
accustomed zeal. Those who have never heard 
Mr. Conkling addressing a great meeting can 
have but little idea of the vigor, brilliancy, and 
fiery energy of his picturesque eloquence. The 
effect of his speeches at the West, and m his 
own State, cannot be over-stated. Never, in our 
politics, has any one made such a display of per- 
sonal power. But in 1882 he was silent. It is 
not necessar)^ to explain here the causes of his 
silence. Its effects were to be seen plainly 
enough by all who watched the events of that 
year. 

The Republican disaffection grew more power- 
ful every day. Party journals, like the Buffalo 
Express, openly advocated Cleveland's election. 
The Albany Joiti^nal, the New York Thnes, and 
the Tribiuie gave Judge Folger but a cold sup- 



CANVASS FOR GOVERNOR. 59 

port. The friends of Garfield wished his defeat. 
The friends of Conkling wished his defeat ; and 
to these discontents, added to Democratic enthu- 
siasm, the friends of President Arthur could make 
but little resistance. The Republican treasury 
was without funds, and had the canvass lasted two 
weeks longer, the Republican cause would proba- 
bly have been practically abandoned. The elec- 
tion resulted in a majority of one hundred and 
ninety-two thousand for Grover Cleveland ; in 
the election of twenty-one Democratic members 
of the House of Representatives, and of a large 
majority in the State Assembly. The wisdom of 
those who had advised Mr. Cleveland's nomina- 
tion was abundantly vindicated by this overwhelm- 
ing victory. 

In that hour of triumph there was one man 
whose mind was filled with anxiet}^ The Demo- 
cratic candidate had, during the canvass, borne 
himself modestly, and had passed his time in the 
duties of his office. He heard the news of his 
success with joy, indeed, but it was a joy tempered 
by a sense of the undefined responsibilities which 
lay before him. This feeling showed itself in the 
speech which he made the night of his election 
at the Manhattan Club, and even more strongly 
in the address which he made upon taking the 
oath of office. 

To many, the governorship thus attained sug- 
gested the presidency. If this high anticipation 



6o LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

came to him, as it did to others, it made no change 
in his demeanor. DeHberately and calmly he 
began to prepare for his departure, and performed 
the preliminary work in the composition of his 
message and the selection of his staff, as unosten- 
tatiously as if they were in the ordinary course of 
his daily employment. 

" If chance will have one king, why, chance may crown me 
Without my stir." 



CHAPTER V. 



FIRST YEAR AS GOVERNOR. 



THE office of Governor of the State of New 
York has long been considered the fit 
reward for men of large experience in pub- 
lic life, great natural parts, and high personal cliar- 
acter. It has seldom been filled by a small man 
or by a mere seeker after place and power. From 
the earliest days of the history of the State it has 
been looked upon, not only in the State of New 
York itself, but throughout the Union, as an office 
scarcely lower in dignity and importance than the 
Presidency of the United States. 

During the early political history of New York 
as a State in the Union the Presidency was prac- 
tically monopolized by Virginia and Massachusetts. 
Durino- this time, however, the Vice-Presidency, 
then deemed of much greater relative importance 
than now, and generally represendng the second 
choice of the electors for President, was filled for 
five terms out of a possible six by natives and 
residents of New York between the time of the 
accession of Thomas Jefferson and the retirement 
of James Monroe. Two of the men so honored, 
George Clinton and Daniel D. Tompkins, had 

6i 



^2 LIFE OP GkOVER CLEVELAND. 

been Governors of their State. With the election 
of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency, in 1836, 
the Presidency ceased to be the heritage of any 
one or two States of the Union, and since that 
time the country h?s always looked with hope and 
expectancy to the Gubernatorial choice of the 
State of New York for men to honor with the 
Presidency of the United States. The names of 
Silas Wricrht, WiHiam L. Marcv. William H. Sew- 
ard, Horatio Seymour, and Samuel J. Tilden are 
familiar household words in our political history 
as aspirants for nomination or election to the high 
office of President. Of these, only the two latter 
ever received the recocrnition of nomination, and 
the latter was the only Governor of his State 
elected to the Presidency after the success of Mr. 
Van Buren in 1836. 

With all these examples at hand, it should have 
been no occasion for surprise that Grover Cleve- 
land was looked upon with unusual interest after 
his election to the Governorship by a majority 
unprecedented in the history of the politics of 
American States. That he was comparatively 
litde known added to this interest. The element 
of surprise that a man of such slight experi- 
ence in the larger polidcs of the State should 
have been nominated and elected was rein- 
forced by a feeling of anticipation, an eager 
demand to know wliat he would do in the office, 
now that he had reached it under such exceptional 



FIJ^Sl' YEAk AS GOVERNOR. 5^ 

circumstances. He had not come to the office 
as the result of political management, of long ser- 
vice in one or the other brancli of the Legislature, 
nor of great and widely recognized distinction in his 
profession. He was simply known as an honest 
man, of good ability, who, in whatever station he 
had been called to fill, had done his duty without 
fear or favor. While this lack of familiarity with 
politics and political movements undoubtedly had 
its drawbacks and disadvantages, which raised In 
the mind of the new Governor many doubts and 
apprehensions, it had many compensations. It 
left him free-handed and Independent. He was 
not tied up with obligations to persons, localities, 
or Interests. Trained to consider questions on 
their merits by the exacting duties of long prac- 
tice of the law, he could look fairly and fully at 
every public question as it came up, and decide as 
his judgment and honesty of purpose would direct. 
The people of New York were not long In find- 
ing out that this was the very thing which Governor 
Cleveland was determined to do. His first mes- 
sage was something of a disappointment, only 
because events had moved so rapidly In bringing 
him into unnatural prominence as to raise extrav- 
agant expectations. But it was mainly disap- 
pointing because It lacked the self-assertive dog- 
matism which the people of New York had long 
been trained to expect from a Governor, especially 
from a new one. 



54 ^^^^ Oi^ GROVEk CLEVELAND. 

But familiarity with the duties and obHgations, 
as well as-" with the power and the rights con- 
ferred upon the Governorship, came rapidly. Then 
the hesitation disappeared, and the people ot the 
country, as well as those of New York, found that 
Grover Cleveland not only knew how to govern, 
but that he was determined to be Governor. 

He early learned to use without mercy the 
weapon of the veto power, almost autocratically 
lodged with the Governor of New York by the 
new Constitution. Between the 26th of January 
and the ist of March he sent to the Legislature 
eight veto messages. These documents clearly 
disclose his purposes. In one, he refused to per- 
mit the county of Montgomery to borrow money. 
In another he refused his consent to an amend- 
ment of the charter of Elmira which was intended 
to change the liability of the city for injuries re- 
ceived in consequence of the streets being in an 
unsafe and dano^erous condition. He refused his 
signature to a bill which would have relieved the 
library association of Fredonia from the payment 
of local taxes, and to one that authorized the 
county of Chautauqua to appropriate money for 
a soldiers' monument. He vetoed an act author- 
izing the village of Fayetteville, where he had lived 
during his boyhood, to borrow money for the pur- 
pose of purchasing a steam fire-engine, and also 
one authorizino- the villao^e of Mechanicsville to 
borrow money for the same purpose. 



FIRST YEAR AS GOVERXOR. ^j. 

By these vetoes he showed that he was deter- 
mined to adhere to the rule which had gov- 
erned him while Mayor of Buffalo, and to deal 
with the pubHc moneys on the principle that offi- 
cials are the trustees of the people. 

He did not, however, confine his use of the 
veto power to bills intended to prevent the ex- 
penditure of small sums of money by village or 
town or county authorities. He even dared to 
run the risk of unpopularity by the veto of a bill 
fixinor a uniform rate of five cents as fare on the 

o 

elevated railroads of the city of New York. That 
city had suffered severely by the unjust exactions 
of the roads in question, and a strong popular 
sentiment had been developed which demanded 
•that new restrictions should be imposed. But 
the form in which the Letrislature sought to em- 
body this sentiment was so unsatisfactory and its 
effects would hcwe been so far-reaching that the 
Governor saw danger and injustice ahead. It 
was insisted by opponents o{ the measure, who 
liad no interest in the roads invoh-ed, that for a 
commercial community like New York to disregard 
the implied obligation which had arisen between 
the State and its citizens, and between the State 
and citizens of other States and countries, would 
be, in the judgment of many thoughtful men, a 
dangerous and pernicious act. This latter view 
was taken by the Governor in the following ex- 
tract from his veto messacre; 



(55 Z/7^i? or G ROVER CLEVELAXD. 

*' But we have especially In our keeping the 
honor and good faith of a great State, and we 
should see to it that no suspicion attaches, through 
any act of ours, to the fair fame of the Common- 
wealth. The State should not only be strictly 
just, but scrupulously fair, and in its relations to 
the citizen every leo^al and moral obligation should 
be rlecognized. This can only be done by legis- 
lating without vindictiveness or prejudice, and 
with a firm determination to deal justly and fairly 
with those from whom we exact obedience." 

He rejected the advice given in many quarters 
to permit the bill to become a law without his 
signature, and jmt himself upon high ground by 
saying in his message, " I am convinced, that in 
all cases the sliare which falls upon the Executive 
re^■ardin^■ the leirislatlon of the Stale, should be 
in no manner evaded, but fairly met by the ex- 
pression of his carefully guarded and unbiased 
judgment." 

This courao-e challenofed admiration even from 
those who did not agree with his position and who 
differed from him in political opinion. The result 
was to give him popularity with people of his 
State, because they were convinced that whatever 
he did, whatever posiiiion he took, their safety and 
their interests w^ould be consulted. 

The same independent position was assumed 
In dealing with bills reorganizing the Fire Depart- 
ment in Buffalo, a measure which would have con- 




GOVERNOR'S MANSION • ALBANY, N. Y. 



FIIiST YEAR AS GOVERNOR. ^^ 

ferred a supposed advantage upon his own party. 
Other bills affecting the city of New York and 
having back of them considerable support in 
public sentiment, were subjected to the same re- 
lentless examination and rejected when it ap- 
oeared to the Governor that they did not accord 
with the interests of the people of his State. 

During his first year as Governor it fell to his 
lot to make a large numiber of appointments to fill 
vacancies in public offices. He undertook co 
appl)' to this duty the same principles which 
governed his conduct in dealing with questions 
more strictly financial or business in their scope. 
He gave heed to the demands of his party, re- 
cognizing in general that it is neither possible nor 
desirable to separate important or responsible 
places from accountability to the sentiment domi- 
nant among the people of a given locality. But 
this devotion to his ow^n party was ahvays accom- 
panied by the most exacting demands of fitness, 
capacity and character in the applicant. Wher- 
ever it was possible to do so he recognized the 
system of merit by which men having special 
fitness or experience in given lines were promoted. 
He made the assistant in the Insurance Depart- 
ment its chief; he appointed a builder of charac- 
ter as Commissioner of the Capitol, and made a 
business man, whose qualifications he knew, 
Superintendent of the same building. The 
Superintendency of Public Works, a place which 



yO LIFE OFGROVER CLEVELAND. 

had often been filled by mere partisans Avith little 
regard to fitness, was given to a man whose long 
experience in the management of the canals had 
made him practical and thorough. The Railroad 
Commission, the appointment of the original 
members of which Avas Imposed upon Mr. Cleve- 
land during his first year's service as Governor, 
Vv^as selected with such judgment that the choice 
gave general party and public satisfaction. It 
justified his confidence and that of the people of 
the State by doing Its work so faithfully and well 
that there has probably been less Irritation or Ill- 
feeling between the people and the railroads In 
New York than In any other State in the Union. 
For several years the labor question had been 
gradually coming to the front In New York as 
one of the most Important to be dealt with by 
political parties, Legislatures, and executive 
officers. The peculiar character of the working 
people of New York city had had much to do 
with giving the question importance. In addition 
to maintaining its supremacy as the first commer 
cial city of the Western world, It had recently 
become the larirest centre for manufacturlnof In- 
dustrles. This had the effect of Introducing a 
population which for variety In origin, Ideas, and 
interests could be found nowhere else. Many 
impracticable measures were proposed from time 
to time by the accepted representatives of the 
labor interests, too-ether with others which were 



FIRST YEAR AS GOVEKNOR. yi 

principally distinguished for criideness and ineffi- 
ciency. Some such measures had been permitted 
to become laws, perhaps, in some cases, from 
an honest desire on the part of Legislators and 
Governors, but in most instances to appease what 
was supposed to be the demands of a large and 
comrnandinor vote. 

The platform of the Convention by which Mr. 
Cleveland had been nominated gave distinct 
pledges committing the Democratic party in New 
York to the enactment of certain legislation in 
the interest of labor. These were accepted by 
Mr. Cleveland in his letter of acceptance in the 
followinof lancruaoe : 

" The platform of principles adopted by the 
Convention meets with my hearty approval. The 
doctrines therein enunciated are so distinctly and 
explicitly stated that their amplification seems 
scarcely necessitated. If elected to the office for 
which I have been nominated, I shall endeavor to 
impress them upon my administration and make 
them the policy of the State." 

Further on, in the same letter^ he says : 

*^The laboring classes constitute the main part 
of our population. They should be protected" in 
their efforts to assert their rights when endangered 
by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this sub- 
ject should recognize the care of the State for 
honest toil, and be framed with a view of improv™ 
incr the condition of the workingrman," 



72 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



The Legislature did Its part toward redeeming 
these promises, and bills for the establishment of 
a Bureau of Labor Statistics, for prohibiting the 
manufacture of cigars In tenement houses, and 
forbidding the manufacture of woolen hats in 
penitentiaries were passed by the Legislature and 
signed by the Governor. 

But even in dealing with labor questions he did 
not yield his judgment to popular clamor when 
convinced that a proposed law affecting interests 
of large bodies of men were either impracticable 
or dangerous in principle. For this reason, he 
refused to slorn a bill which reached him late In the 
legislative session, known as the " Car Conductors' 
and Drivers' Bill ;" It proposed to prohibit the 
exaction of more than twelve hours for a day's 
work on street railways. This action was not 
taken because of any disapproval of the objects 
sought to be accomplished by the proposed law, 
but upon purely legal and constitutional grounds. 
The bill was defective and unskillfully drawn In 
that the right of contract between street car com- 
panies and their employes was not interfered 
with. It was clear that the law could never be 
enforced, as experience had already shown In 
other States. 

The session of the first Legislature under Mr. 
Cleveland's administration as Governor of the 
State of New York closed with credit to himself 
He had worked hard and faithfully to redeem the 



PIl^S '1 YEAR AS C0\ 1: kA Ok. *^x 

promises made by himself and his party, and had 
achieved a larger des^ree of success than o^ener- 
ally comes to men under such circumstances. 
He had maintained and increased the respect felt 
for his honesty and faithfulness throughout the 
State, and had become widely known in every 
section of the Union. His relations with his own 
party were, in general, good, in spite of the fact 
that they had been severely strained with certain 
sections of it. Already his name had been very 
generally discussed as that of a man who v/as most 
likely to enable his party to regain in the Union 
that power which it had lost twenty-three years 
before. But he made no avowals, and was not, 
apparently, to be turned either to the right or to 
the left by this consideration. He simply did his 
duty as it came to him, leaving the future to take 
care of itself. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SECOND YEAR AS GOVERNOR. 

IN his second annual message Grover Cleve- 
land showed that he felt easy in the place 
as well as liked it — somethin'^ which he con- 
fessed to his friends. He showed more and more 
confidence in himself and in his ability to satisly 
both the people of his State and himself in carry- 
ing out its duties. There was no longer uncer- 
tainty or hesitation. He showed that he knew 
what measures the best interests of the State 
demanded, and he recommended them with that 
dogmatism so much admired by the people of 
New York, and which ever wins for public men 
increasing popularity among intelligent people. 

Among the most important of the questions 
with which he came to deal was the relations ot 
corporations to the State. It had long been ap- 
parent that many evils were growing up about 
these associations of men and money, and earnest 
men of intellicrence and conscience had souoht 
some way of meeting what seemed to them a 
serious danger. There was general ao^reement 
to the proposition that if the widest publicity 
could be given to the accounts of corporations 
74 • I 



SECOND YEAR AS GOVERNOR. ^5 

created by the State the beginning of the end ot 
the evil would be reached. The Governor con- 
sidered this phase of the question at some lengtn 
in his second annual message, from which the fol- 
lowinor views are extracted : 

'' It would, in my opinion, be a most valuable 
protection to the people if other large corpo- 
rations were obliged to report to some depart- 
ment their transactions and financial condition. 

'' The State creates these corporations upon the 
theory that some proper thing of benefit can be 
better done by them than by private enterprise, 
and that the aggregation of the funds of many 
individuals may be thus profitably employed. 
They are launched upon the public with the seal 
of the State, In some sense, upon them. They 
are permitted to represent the advantages they 
possess and the wealth sure to follow from ad- 
mission to membership. In one hand Is held a 
charter from the State, and In the other is proffered 
their stock. 

*' It is a fact, singular though \vell established, 
^hat people will pay their money for stock in a 
corporation engaged in enterprises in which they 
would refuse to invest if in private hands. 

" It is a grave question whether the formation 
of these artificial bodies ought not to be checked 
or better regulated, and in some way supervised. 

"At any rate, ihcy should always be kept well 
m hand, and the funds of Its citizens should be 



yg LIPE OF GRGVER CLLVELA^D. 

protected by the State which has Invited their 
investment. While the stockholders are the own- 
ers of the corporate property, notoriously they are 
oftentimes completely in the power of the direct- 
ors and managers, who acquire a majority of the 
stock and by this means perpetuate their control, 
using the corporate property and franchises for 
their benefit and profit, regardless of the inter- 
ests and rights of the minority of stockholders. 
Immense salaries are paid to officers ; transactions 
are consummated by which the directors make 
money, while the rank and file among the stock- 
holders lose it ; the honest investor waits for 
dividends and the directors orow .rich. It is 
suspected, too, that large sums are spent under 
various disouises in efforts to inlluence leoislation. 

''The State should either refuse to allow these 
corporations to exist under its authority and 
patronage, or, acknowledging their paternity and 
its responsibility, should provide a simple, easy 
way for Its people, whose money is invested, and 
the public generally, to discover how the funds of 
these Institutions are spent, and how their affairs 
are conducted. It should at the same time pro- 
vide a way by which the squandering or misuse 
of corporate funds would be made good to the 
parties injured thereby. 

" This might well be accomplished by requiring 
corporations to frequently file reports made out 
with the utmost detail, and which would not allow 



SECOND YEAR AS GOVERNOR. 



11 



lobby expenses to be hidden under the pretext of 
legal services and counsel fees, accompanied by 
vouchers and sworn to by the officers making 
them, showing particularly the debts, liabiHties, 
expenditures, and property of the corporation: 
Let this report be delivered to some appropriate 
department or officer, who shall audit and examine 
the same ; provide that a false oath to such ac- 
count shall be perjury, and make the directors 
liable to refund to the injured stockholders any 
expenditure which shall be determined improper 
by the auditing authority. 

''Such requirements might not be favorable to 
stock speculation, but they would protect the inno- 
cent Investors ; they might make the management 
of corporations more troublesome, but this ought 
not to be considered when the protection of the 
people Is the matter in hand. It would prevent 
corporate efforts to Influence legislation ; the 
honestly conducted and strong corporations would 
have nothing to fear ; the badly managed and 
weak ought to be exposed." 

It would be difficult to find In the record of any 
of our public men so well-considered a plan as 
that here presented, dealing with the glaring evils 
of legislative and official corruption. 

It was only natural that Grover Cleveland 
should devote much time, thought, and attention 
to the discussion of municipal affairs. His first 
political office, and that from which he had taken 



5^8 Life of g rover Cleveland. 

his way into the higher walks of piil:>Hc life, was 
that of Mayor of Buffalo. During- the time he 
occupied that office he brought to the discharge 
of its duties a purpose to do what lay in his 
power toward making his city a place where 
health, the material independence of its citizens, and 
their mental and moral growth might all be pro- 
moted. In was in the Mayoralty that he insisted 
upon a decent economy and the most scrupulous 
fidelity to all the trusts imposed by public office. 
In his first message to the Legislature he had 
said : 

"They [municipal governments] should be so 
organized as to be simple in their details, and to 
cast upon the people affected thereby the full 
responsibility of their administration. The differ- 
ent departments should be in such accord as in 
their operation to lead toward the same results. 
Divided counsels and divided responsibility to the 
people, on the part of municipal officers, it is 
believed, give rise to much that is objectionable 
in the government of cities. If, to remedy this 
evil, the chief executive should be made answer- 
able to the people for the proper conduct of the 
city's affairs, it is quite clear that his power in the 
selection of those who manage its different depart- 
ments should be greatly enlarged." 

And a^ain he said : 

*' It is not only the right of the people to admin- 
ister their local government, but it should be made 



iA COND YEA R AS GOl EAW ' 0A\ . ^ C^ 

their duty to do so. Any departure from this 
doctrine is an abandonment of the principles upon 
which our institutions are founded, and a conces- 
sion of the infirmity and partial failure of the 
theory of a representative form of government. 

"If the aid of the Legislature is invoked to 
further projects which should be subject to local 
control and management, suspicion should be at 
once aroused, and the interference sought should 
be promptly and sternly refused. 

" If local rule is in any instance bad, weak, or 
inefficient, those who suffer from maladministra- 
tion have the remedy within their ovyn control. 
If, through their neglect or inattention, it falls into 
unworthy hands, or if bad methods and practices 
gain a place in its administration, it is neither 
harsh nor unjust to remit those who are respon^ 
sible for those conditions to their self-inviced fate, 
until their interest, if no better motive, prompts 
them to an earnest and active discharge of the 
duties of good citizenship." " 

The Legislature of 1884, accepting this theory 
and acting upon what was the drift of discussion 
in the city of New York, passed an elaborate bill 
depriving the Board of Aldermen of the power 
of confirmation of appointments to certain offices 
in that city, and lodging this power in the hands 
of the Mayor without restriction. In some respects 
the new law did not meet the opinions of the Gov- 
ernor, but he signed it, filing with the newly made. 



g(^ UPE OP C ROVER CLEVELAND. 

law a memorandum of tlie reasons which had led 
him to take this action. Under this law the im- 
proved condition of municipal politics in the city 
of New York has become apparent. The Board 
of Aldermen, shorn of their coveted power of con- 
firmation, has not been able to maintain the old 
and unnatural importance which had been given 
to it; the politics of the city has had opportunity 
to lose its old-time reputation for bargains and 
bargaining, and there is a very apparent improve- 
ment in the character, not only of the officials ap- 
pointed by the Mayor, but of those elected by the 
people as well. Much of this is due to Mr. Cleve- 
land's recognition of the need of a change in 
municipal methods, suggested by his own expe- 
rience and elaborated by his industry and ability. 
That much still remains to be^done no man will 
question, but with the interest which has been ex- 
cited in such questions and the intelligence which 
is being brought to bear upon it there can be no 
serious doubt of the result. When this is assured 
history will give due credit for it to the man who 
is now President of the United States. 

As Governor, Mr. Cleveland recognized the 
importance of the National Guard of New York, 
and did much to revive interest in its citizen sol- 
diery. He selected his staff not for ornam.ental 
purposes, as is so often the case with the militia 
of the several States, but with a view of eettinor 
the most efficient practical results. He was care- 



SECOXD YEAR AS GOVERNOR. gj 

ful to promote the true interests of the soldiers 
who served in the Union army during the Civil 
War, approving measures giving soldiers and sail- 
ors preference for employment upon public works, 
and the provision for completing the records of 
New York regiments and other military organiza- 
tions and for their safe keeping. 

The pardoning power, one of the most respon- 
sible duties of the Governor, was exercised with 
care, and at the same time with greater frequency 
than usual. His legal training and practice had 
evidendy convinced him that the power of trav- 
ersinor the sentences of the vast number and vari- 
ety of courts in a State like New York was one 
which imposed the most serious responsibilities 
upon the Governor. The constant tendency on 
the part of a certain class of judges to impose 
"cruel and unusual punishments" Is one of the 
most serious of the time, and one which constantly 
needs to be reviewed In order that justice may be 
tempered with that mercy which Is Its highest 
attribute. 

Among the more important measures passed 
was an Act providing for the appointment of a 
Commission to select and set apart such lands as 
might be found necessary for the preservadon of 
the scenery at Niagara Falls. All the Islands Im- 
mediately above the falls, and the lands upon the 
main shore, had early in the century been sold to 
private citizens. Some of them have been devoted 



gj LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

to manufacturing- purposes, the forests upon the 
mainland have been cut down, and a process of 
deterioration has begun which, if continued, will 
soon destroy the charm and interest which Niagara 
has had as an object of natural beauty and 
sublimity. 

It had been some time in contemplation to pre- 
serve Niagara by creating a State reservation, by 
removing unsightly constructions, and restoring, 
so far as practicable, the scenery to its original 
character. The efforts in this direction had been 
thwarted by the action of Governor Cornell, who 
had indicated that if the proposed measure was 
passed he would refuse to sign it. Governor 
Cleveland, however, showed a generous disposi- 
tion to the undertaking, and encouraged the pas- 
sage of the bill. This law has since been carried 
into complete effect with the most satisfactory re- 
sults, and the State Reservation at Niagara Falls 
promises in due time to become one of the most 
striking of the landscape features of the State. 
Already many of the serious abuses which formerly 
met visitors to that great natural wonder have 
been removed. The Dominion of Canada has, on 
its part, carried on the work on the opposite side 
of the river.* 



* Mvich of the credit for the success of the New York undertaking must 
be ascribed to the late William Dorsheimer, who was by appointment one 
of the original, as he was the most active^ of the Commissioners having th? 
work in charge, 



SECOND YEAR AS GOVERNOR. 



83 



In brief, every question which engaged the at- 
tention or the energies of the people of the great 
State of New York found in Mr. Cleveland during 
his "service" as Governor the most intelliorent and 
industrious encouracrement. The reform of th^* 
State Civil Service system, the protection and 
preservation of the forests of the Adirondacki,, 
the promotion of education and industry, found 
in the Governor of the State their most active and 
intelligent support. 

A speech which the Governor made at the Albany 
High School contains some observations whicli 
must have been derived from his own experience. 
It is here given both as an expression of his 
opinions upon important subjects, and by reason 
of its biographical value. He said: 

"I accepted the invitation of your principal to 
visit your school this morning with pleasure, be- 
cause I expected to see much that would gratify 
and interest me. In this I have not been disap^ 
pointed. But I must confess that if I had known 
that my visit here involved my attempti-ng to ad. 
dress you, I should have hesitated, and quite likel) 
have declined the invitation. 

"I hasten to assure you now that there is noi 
the slightest danger of my inflicting a speech upon 
you, and that I shall do but litde more than to ex- 
press my pleasure in the proof I have of the 
excellence of the methods and management of the 
school, and of the opportunities which those who 



g4 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

attend have within their reach of obtaining a 
superior education. 

" I never visit a school in these days without 
contrasting the advantages of the scholar of to- 
day with those of a time not many years in the 
past. Within my remembrance even, the educa- 
tion which is freely offered you was only secured 
by those whose parents were able to send them 
to academies and colleges. And thus, when you 
entered this school very many of you began where 
your parents left off. 

"The theory of the State in furnishing more 
and better schools for the children, is that it 
tends to fit them to better perform their duties 
as citizens, and that an educated man or woman 
is apt to be more useful as a member of the com- 
munity. 

"This leads to the thouo^ht that those who avail 
themselves of the means thus tendered them are 
in duty bound to make such use of their advan- 
tages as that the State shall receive in return the 
educated and intelligent citizens and members of 
the community which it has the right to expect 
from its schools. You, who will soon be the men 
of the day, should consider that you have assumed 
an obligation to fit yourselves by the education, 
which you may, if you will, receive in this school, 
for the proper performance of any duty of citizen- 
ship, and to fill any public station to which you 
may be called, And it seems to me to be none 




GOVERNOR'S ROOM IN STATE CAPITOL AT ALBANY, N. Y. 



SECOXD YLAR AS GOVERNOR. gj 

the less Important that those who are to be the 
wives and mothers should be educated, refined, 
and intelligent. To tell the truth, I should be 
afraid to trust the men, educated though they 
should be, if they were not surrounded by pure 
and true womanhood. Thus it is that you all, 
now and here, from the oldest to the youngest, 
owe a duty to the State which can only be an- 
swered by diligent study and the greatest possi- 
ble improvement. It is too often the case that in 
all walks and places the disposition is to render 
the least possible return to the State for the favors 
which she bestows. 

" If the consideration which I have mentioned 
fails to impress you, let me remind you of what 
you have often heard, that you owe it to your- 
selves and the importantpartof yourselves toseize, 
while you may, the opportunities to improve your 
minds, and store into tliem, for your own future 
use and advantage, the learning and knowledge 
now fairly within your reach. 

" None of you desire or expect to be less In- 
telligent or educated than your fellows. But un- 
less the notions of scholars have changed, there 
may be those among you who think that in some 
way or manner, after the school day is over, there 
will be an opportunity to regain any ground now 
lost, and to complete an education without a 
present devotion to school requirements. I am 
sure this is a mistake, A moment's reflection 



gg LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

ought to convince all of you that when you have 
once entered upon the stern, uncompromising, 
and unrelenting duties of mature life, there will 
be no time for study. You will have a contest 
then forced upon you which will strain every 
nerve and engross every faculty. A good educa- 
tion, if you have it, will aid you, but if you are 
without it, you cannot stop to acquire it. When 
you leave the school you are well equipped for 
the van in the army of life, or you are doomed to 
be a laggard, aimlessly and listlessly following in 
the rear. 

"Perhaps a reference to truths so trite is use- 
less here. I hope it is. But I have not been able 
to forego the chance to assure those who are hard 
at work that they will surely see their compensa- 
tion, and those, if any such there are, who find 
school duties irksome, and neglect or slightingly, 
perforin them, that they are trifling with serious 
things and treading on dangerous ground." 

Before the meeting of the Legislature in 1885 
the verdict of the people of the United States, oi. 
"Well done," had been pronounced, and Mr. 
Cleveland resigned the Governorship Into the 
hands of David Bennett Hill, the faithful coadju- 
tor who had entered office wlt4i him as Lieutenant- 
Governor in January, 1883. With the exception 
of Mr. Tllden, it is doubtful whether such an in- 
dustrious Governor had ever been seen in 
Albany. Mr. Cleveland went to his room in the 



SECOND YEAR AS GOVERN Ok. 3g 

Capitol at nine o'clock in the morning, and he 
seldom left it, except to take his meals, before 
midnight. He examined every bill with a close 
and critical attention, and never decided upon one 
with whose provisions he was not perfectly fa- 
miliar. The same care was taken with all other 
official acts. The result was not only an excel- 
lent performance of the public service, but the 
Governor himself received a severe discipline and 
a wide education from his labors. 

After his resignation he retired to a quiet pri- 
vate residence in Albany, where he devoted him- 
self to the new duties to which the favor of his 
countrymen had called him. He received delega- 
tions from States and delegations from sections. 
He gave patient audience to the friends of men 
who sought, or for whom was asked, admission 
into his Cabinet as Presidential advisers. He 
heard men who wanted office for themselves or 
their friends. He was then, in the hour of tri- 
umph, the same unobtrusive man, the most 
modest member of his party, over the great and 
decisive victory achieved with him as its leader. 

A few days before the 4th of March, 1885, 
he went to Washington as the guest of the late 
President Arthur. He was received with many 
demonstrations of respect, joy, and confidence on 
his way to begin the new career which fate and 
his own merits had marked out for him. 

The conduct of the outgoing President toward 



90 LIFE OF GROVEk CLEVELAND. 

his successor was marked by the urbanity and 
courtesy which had characterized Mr. Arthur's 
demeanor throughout the trying times of his 
entire Administration. He had come to the first 
office of the country under the most painful and 
embarrassing circumstances. Distrusted by the 
opposition and by a very strong faction in his own 
party, he bore himself as a gentleman and a 
patriot. His unselfish purposes and his intelli- 
gent policy alike were unappreciated by the 
Blaine wing of the party ; and they had com- 
passed the defeat of his nomination, only to be 
themselves unhorsed in the campaign. 



CHAPTER Vir. 

%'HK CANVASS AND CONVENTION OF I 

THE disputed result of the Presidential 
election of 1876, the death of President 
Garfield, and the unexpected accession of 
President Arthur gave to the political campaign 
of 1884 an interest and importance which had not 
entered into any preceding political contest since 
that of i860. The clean, dignified, and manly ad- 
ministration of President Arthur, and especially 
its tendencies toward tariff reform, had not given 
satisfaction to the majority of his party ; and it 
early became evident to intelligent and impartial 
observers that he could not secure a nomination 
to succeed himself. The dominance of Mr. Blaine 
in the counsels of his party had long been ac- 
knowledged ; in the early part of the canvass it was 
clear that he had become the commanding force. 
He and his followers had had a brief taste of 
authority while he was occupying the office of 
Secretary of State during the luckless and waver- 
ing rule of Garfield, and his last desperate effort 
to seize the standard of his party was rewarded 
with his nomination for President, Senatorjohn 
A. Logan being named for second place. 

93 



94 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

On the other hand, the drift in the Democratic 
party toward Mr. Cleveland was scarcely less ap- 
parent. The reform and progressive elements of 
the party represented by Mr. Tilden so long as 
he chose to remain their leader, had begun tr 
look toward the Governor of New York as his 
natural successor. It was generally conceded 
that the party, having been so long out of power, 
must make a nomination which would not only 
prove attractive to the voters directly attached to 
its principles, purposes, and leaders, but one which 
would appeal to the large and increasing number 
of independent, unattached, or semi-detached 
voters, always found most numerously in the 
ofreat and controllino- State of New York, and 
ivho had now clearly become a strong force in the 
politics of the United States. Mr. Cleveland's 
course as Governor had been such that a con- 
siderable element of his party in the State of New 
York was bitterly opposed to his promotion to the 
Presidency of the United States. In spite of 
this feeling, the State Convention held at Saratoga 
in June, 1884, to select delegates to tlie Demo 
cratic National Convention called to meet at 
Chicago on the eighth of July following selected 
seventy-two delegates, wiio were not placed under 
instructions as to candidates, but were directed to 
vote on all questions as a unit. Each element of 
the party then hoped to gain control of the dele- 
gation. 



THE CANVASS AXD COXVEXTlOX OP iSSa. 95 

Meanwhile the canvass was Q-oinor on in other 
States of the Union, in many of which a strong 
sentiment had developed in favor of the nomi- 
nation of the New York candidate ; so that when 
the Convention met in Chicago party sentiment 
had pretty effectually crystallized itself around the 
name of Air. Cleveland as the most available 
candidate for the Presidency. 

The National Democratic Convention of 1884 
met in the Exposition Hall, Chicago, at noon on 
Tuesday, July 8th. It was called to order by ex- 
Senator William H. Barnum, of Connecticut, 
Chairman of the National Committee, who, after 
prayer had been offered by the Rev. D. C. 
Marquis, of Chicago, congratulated the assembled 
delegates upon the sentiment of harmony which 
pervaded the body they were about to form and 
proceeded at once to business by naming as 
Temporary Chairman ex-Governor Richard B. 
Hubbard, of Texas, who spoke at some length on 
the issues of the day. Frederick O. Prince, of 
Massachusetts, was made Temporary Secretary, 
Richard J. Bright, of Indiana, Sergeant-at-arms, 
with a full list of assistants to each selected with 
care from every section of the Union. 

Immediately after the temporary organization 
had been effected, an attack was made by the 
minority of the delegation from the State of New 
York, known as the " Tammany wing," upon the 
unit rule which had so lono- o-overned the action 



g(5 LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

of National Democratic Conventions when in- 
structions had been made by the States from 
which delegations were accredited. A long dis- 
cussion ensued in which the opposing elements 
from the Empire State were the principal disput- 
ants, after which, by a vote of 463 to 332, the Con- 
vention decided in favor of the retention of the 
unit rule. This solidified New York for Cleve- 
land and vastly strengthened his cause in other 
States. Committees were appointed on Perma- 
nent Organization, Credentials, and Resolutions, 
composed of one delegate from each State. 

On the second day a permanent organization 
was effected, with William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, 
as President ; the Temporary Secretary, Sergeant- 
at-arms, and assistants were declared Permanent, 
and Vice-Presidents and Secretaries from each State 
were added. The presiding officer in a long and 
able speech, that did much to win for him recogni- 
tion a few months later in his appointment as 
Postmaster-General in the Cabinet of the Presi- 
dent of the United States, laid down the princi- 
ples upon which he thought the canvass should be 
conducted and predicted the victory which followed. 
The Committee on Resolutions not being ready to 
report, an animated discussion arose over the 
question of naming the candidate for President, 
and the Convention decided that this should be 
done. The roll of States was called and the 
names of Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio ; Thomas F. 



THE CANVASS AND CONVENTION OF 1884. gj 

Bayard, of Delaware ; Joseph E. McDonald, of 
Indiana; John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky ; Samuel J. 
Randall, of Pennsylvania, and Grover Cleveland, 
of New York, were formally presented as candi- 
dates for nomination to the office of President of 
the United States. Nearly all the second day, 
together with the day session of the third, was con- 
sumed in speeches. The Committee on Resolu- 
tions reported at the evening session of the third 
day, July loth, and immediately after the adop- 
tion of its report the first ballot for President was 
taken, with the following result : Cleveland, 392 ; 
Bayard, 170; Thurman, 88; Randall, 78 ; McDon- 
ald, 56; Carlisle, 27; Flower, 4; Hoadley, 3; 
Hendricks, i ; Tilden, i. Necessary to a choice 
under the two- thirds rule, 547. 

By a close vote adjournment was had until 
eleven o'clock on Friday morning, when a remark- 
able scene occurred in the effort to stampede the 
Convention to Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. 
A great tumult was aroused in the galleries for 
half an hour, at the end of which time Mr. Voor- 
hees, of Indiana, withdrew the name of Joseph E. 
McDonald, with announced purpose on the part of 
the deleoration from that State to cast its vote for 

o 

Mr. Hendricks. As the ballot proceeded it be- 
came apparent that Cleveland was the choice of 
the Convention, and with changes in the vote of 
many States, the result of the second ballot 
was declared as follows : Cleveland, 683 ; Bayard, 



gg ' LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

8i^ ; Hendricks, 45 ^^ ; Thurman, 4; Randall, 4; 
McDonald, 4. Upon the announcement of this 
result Mr. Menzies, of Indiana, made a motion, 
which was seconded by delegates from a number 
of States, that the nomination be made unani- 
mous. This was passed without dissent, and 
Grover Cleveland was declared the candidate of 
the National Democratic Convention for the Pres- 
idency of the United States. 

Adjournment was then had until evening, when 
nominations for Vice-President were declared to 
be in order. Upon the call of States California 
presented William S. Rosecrans ; Colorado, Jos- 
eph E. McDonald ; Georgia, John C. Black, sec- 
onded by Illinois, and Kansas, George W. Click. 
When Pennsylvania was reached ex-Senator Wil- 
liam A. Wallace presented the name of Thomas 
A. Hendricks, of Indiana, and asked that he be 
nominated by acclamation. After some discus- 
sion the names of all other candidates were with- 
drawn and the vote of every delegate in the Con- 
vention was cast for Mr. Hendricks, who was 
thus made the candidate of the Democratic party 
for the Vice-Presidency of the United States. 
The ticket was completed and the nominations 
ratified with such an outburst of enthusiasm and 
demonstrations of applause as had never before 
been seen and heard on the continent. After the 
adoption of the customary resolutions of thanks 
the Convention adjourned sine die. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE CLEVELAND-BLAINE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. 

THE campaign which followed the nomina- 
tions was one of the the most exciting 
and bitter known to the history of this 
country. It was rendered particularly so by the 
opposition to Blaine of a large numberof indepen- 
dent voters in every State of the Union. These 
men had been Republicans almost to a man. 
Many of them were the leaders of their party and 
had been prominent in its counsels from its or- 
ganization. Others were young men thus early 
driven out of their party because of a recognition 
of its bad tendencies and the dangerous character 
of its candidate for President, Mr. Blaine. Mad- 
dened by these desertions and rendered desper- 
ate by the prospective loss of power long held by 
the aid of discreditable methods, the National 
Committee of the Republican party, aided by the 
close friends of its candidate, invented and gave 
currency to outrageous charges against the pri- 
vate character of the Democratic candidate. He 
met these with a pitiless exposure of their falsity, 
and with conscious integrity demanded from his 
friends that they should ''Tell the truth." This 

99 



lOO LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

declaration became a Democratic watchword dur- 
ing the ensuing canvass. Of Cleveland's manly 
conduct with relation to this phase of the cam- 
paign, and in striking contrast with the attitude 
of his opponent on questions deeply affecting his 
personal integrity, the editor of Harper s Weekly, 
August 1 6th, 1884, said: 

''There was no whining about his private bus- 
iness; no seizing of letters, and, after a menacing 
pressure of public opinion, a theatrical reading of 
such parts as he chose and with his own com- 
ments ; there was no desperate equivocation and 
attempted concealment. 'Tell the truth' was 
the only reply — a reply which showed a man hon- 
orably unwilling to receive any public trust under 
false pretenses." - 

SPEECH OF ACCEPTANCE. 

In due time Governor Cleveland was notified 
officially of his nomination by the Committee ap- 
pointed for that purpose. In reply he made the 
following brief and pointed address : 

''Mr. Chair^nan and Gentlemen of the Committee: 

"Your formal announcement does not, of 
course, convey to me the first information of the 
result of the Convention lately held by the De- 
mocracy of the Nation, and yet, when, as I listen 
to your message, I see about me representatives 
from all parts of the land of the great party which, 




HON. lOHN M. PALMER, 



CLEVELAND BLAINE CAMPAIGN. lOl 

claiming to be the party of the people, asks them 
to intrust to it the administration of their o-overn- 
ment, and when I consider under the influence of 
the stern reality which the present surroundings 
create, that I have been chosen to represent the 
plans, purposes, and the policy of the Democratic 
party, I am profoundly impressed by the solemnity 
of the occasion and by the responsibility of my 
position. Though. I gratefully appreciate it, I do 
not at this moment congratulate myself upon the 
distinguished honor which has been conferred 
upon me, because my mind is full of an anxious 
desire to perform well the part which has been 
assigned to me. 

" Nor do I at this moment forcret that the riehts 
and interests of more than fifty millions of my 
fellow-citizens are involved in our efforts to eain 
Democratic supremacy. This reflection presents 
to my mind the consideration which more than all 
others gives to the action of my party in conven- 
tion assembled its most sober and serious aspect. 
The party and its representatives which ask to be 
intrusted at the hands of the people with the 
keeping of all that concerns their welfare and 
their safety, should only ask it with the full appre- 
ciation of the sacredness of the trust, and with a 
firm resolve to administer it faithfully and well. I 
am a Democrat because I believe that this truth 
lies at the foundation of true Democracy. I have 
kept the faith, because I believe if- righdy and fairly 



I02 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

administered and applied, Democratic doctrines 
and measures will insure the happiness, content- 
ment, and prosperity of the people. 

" If, in the contest upon which we now enter, we 
steadfastly hold to the underlying principles of 
our party creed, and at all times keep in view the 
people's good, we shall be strong, because we are 
true to ourselves, and because the plain and 
independent voters of the land will seek by their 
suffrages to compass their release from party 
tyranny wliere there should be submission to the 
popular will, and their protection from party cor- 
ruption where there should be devotion to the 
people's interests. These thoughts lend a conse- 
cration to our cause, and we go forth, not merely 
to gain a partisan advantage, but pledged to 
give to those who trust us the utmost benefits of 
a pure and honest administration of National 
affairs. No higher purpose or motive can stimu- 
late us to supreme effort, or urge us to continuous 
and earnest labor and effective party organization. 
Let us not fail in this, and we may confidently 
hope to reap the full reward of patriotic services 
well performed. I have thus called to mind some 
simple truths, and, trite though they are, it seems 
to me we do well to dwell upon them at this time„ 
I shall soon, I hope, signify, in the usual formal 
manner, my acceptance of the nomination which has 
been tendered to me. In the meantime I gladly 
greet you all as co-workers in the noble cause." 



CLE VELAND-BLAINE CAMPAIGX. I OJ 



FORMAL LETTER OF ACCEPTA^XE. 

Subsequently, Mr. Cleveland Avrote and for- 
warded to the Committee of Notification the fol- 
lowing letter, which sets forth more in detail his 
ideas of the issues of the campaign : 

"Albany, N. Y., August i8th, 1884. 

" Gentlemen : I have received your communi- 
cation dated July 28th, 1884, informing me of my 
nomination to the office of President of the United 
States by the National Democratic Convention 
lately assembled at Chicago. 

" I accept the nomination with a grateful appre- 
ciation of the supreme honor conferred, and a 
solemn sense of the responsibility which, in its 
acceptance, I assume. 

'' I have carefully considered the platform 
adopted by the Convention and cordially approve 
the same. So plain a statement of Democratic faith 
and the principles upon which tliat party appeals 
to the suffrages of the people needs no supple- 
ment or explanation. 

'' It should be remembered that the office of 
President is essejitially executive in its nature. 
The laws enacted by the legislative branch of the 
Government the Chief Executive is bound faith- 
fully to enforce. And when the wisdom of the 
political party which selectn one of Its members as 
a nominee for that office has outlined its policy 



I04 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

and declared its principles, it seems to me that 
nothing in the character of the office or the neces- 
sities of the case requires more from the candi- 
date accepting such nomination than the sugges- 
tion of certain well-known truths so absolutely 
vital to the safety and welfare of the nation, that 
they cannot be too often recalled or too seriously 
enforced. 

*'We proudly call ours a government by the 
people. It is not such when a class is tolerated 
which arrogates to itself the management of pub- 
lic affairs, seeking to control the people instead 
of representing them. 

" Parties are the necessary outgrowth of our in- 
stitutions ; but a government is not by the people 
when one party fastens its control upon the coun- 
try and perpetuates its power by cajoling and be- 
traying the people instead of serving them. 

"A government is not by the people, when a 
result which should represent the intelligent will 
of free and thinking men is, or can be, determined 
by the shameless corruption of their suffrages. 

" When an election to office shall be the selection 
by the voters of one of their number to assume 
for a time a public trust instead of his dedication 
to the profession of politics ; when the holders of 
the ballot, quickened by a sense of duty, shall 
avenge truth betrayed and pledges broken, and 
when the suffrao^e shall be altoeether free and 
uncorrupted, the full realisation of a government 



CLEVELAND-BLAINE CAMPAIGM. IO5 

by the people will be at hand. And of the means 
to this end, not one would, in my judgment, be 
more effective than an amendment to the Consti- 
tution disquahfying the President from re-election. 
When we consider the patronage of this great 
office, the allurements of power, the temptation to 
retain public place once gained, and, more than 
all, the availability a party finds in an incumbent 
wliom a horde of office-holders, with a zeal born 
of benefits received, and fostered by the hopes of 
favors yet to come, stand ready to aid with money 
and trained political service, we recognize in the 
eligibility of the President for re-election a most 
serious danger to that calm, deliberate, and intelli- 
gent political action which must characterize ^ 
government by the people. 

"A true American sentiment recognizes the dig- 
nity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest 
toil. Contented labor is an element of national 
prosperity. Ability to work constitutes the capi- 
tal and the wage of labor the income of a vast 
number of our population ; and this interest should 
be jealously protected. Our workingmen are 
not asking unreasonable indulgence; but as in- 
telligent and manly citizens, they seek the same 
consideration which those demand who have other 
interests at stake. They should receive their full 
share of the care and attention of those who make 
and execute the laws, to the end that the wants 
and needs of the employers and the employed 



105 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

^hall alike be subserved, and die prosperity of 
die country, the common heritage of both, be ad- 
vanced. As related to this subject, while we 
should not discouracfe the immicrration of those 
who come to acknowledoe alleoiance to our crov- 
ernment and add to our citizen population, yet 
as a means of protection to our workingmen, a 
different rule should prevail concerning those who, 
if they come, or are brought, to our land, do not 
intend to become Americans, but will injuriously 
compete with those justly entitled to our field of 
labor. 

*' In a letter accepting the nomination to the 
office of Governor, nearly two years ag^o, I made 
the following statement, to which I have steadily 
adhered: 

" ' The laboring classes constitute the main part 
of our population. They should be protected in 
their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when 
endangered by aggregated capital ; and all stat- 
utes on this subject should recognize the care of 
the State for honest toil and be framed with a 
view of improving the condition of the working- 
man.' 

"A proper regard for the welfare of the work- 
ingman being inseparably connected with the in- 
tegrity of our institutions, none of our citizens are 
more interested than thev in euardinir against 
any corrupting influences which seek to pervert 
the beneficent purposes of our Government; and 



CLEVELAKD-BLAINE CAMPAIGAT. 107 

none should be more watchful of the artful machi- 
nations of those who allure them to self-inflicted 
injur)'. 

"In a free country, the curtailment of the abso- 
lute rights of the individual should only be such 
as is essential to the peace and good order of the 
community. The limit between the proper sub- 
jects of governmental control, and those which 
can be more fittingly left to the moral sense and 
self-imposed restraint of the citizen, should be 
carefully kept in view. Thus lav/s unnecessarily 
interfering with the habits and customs of any of 
our people which are not offensive to the moral 
sentiments of the civilized world, and which are 
consistent with good citizenship and the public 
welfare, are unwise and vexatious. 

*'The commerce of a nation to a ereat extent de- 

■ o 

termines its supremacy. Cheap and easy trans- 
portation should therefore be liberally fostered. 
Within the limits of the Constitution, the General 
Government should so improve and protect its 
natural water-ways as will enable tlie producers 
of the country to reach a profitable market. 

"The people pay the wages of the public em- 
ployes, and they are entitled to the fair and 
honest work which the money thus paid should 
command. It is the duty of those intrusted with 
the management of tlieir affairs to see that such 
public service is forthcoming. The selection and 
retention of subordinates in Governm.ent employ- 



lo8 ^^^^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND, 

ment should depend upon their ascertained fitness 
and the value of their work, and they should be 
neither expected nor allowed to do questionable 
party service. The interests of the people will be 
better protected ; the estimate of public labor and 
duty will be immensely improved ; public employ- 
ment will be open to all who can demonstrate 
their fitness to enter it ; the unseemly scramble 
for place under the Government, with the conse- 
quent importunity which embitters official life, will 
cease ; and the public departments will not be 
filled with those who conceive it to be their first 
duty to aid the party to which they owe their 
places, instead of rendering patient and honest 
return to the people. 

*' I believe that the public temper is such that 
the voters of the land are prepared to support 
the party which gives the best promise of 
administering the Government in the honest, 
simple, and plain manner which is consistent with 
its character and purposes. They have learned 
that mystery and concealment in the management 
of their affairs cover tricks and betrayal. The 
statesmanship they require consists in honesty 
and frugality, a prompt response to the needs of 
the people as they arise, and the vigilant pro- 
tection of all their varied interests. 

" If I should be called to the Chief Magistracy 
of the Nation by the suffrages of my fellow-citi- 
zens. I will assume the duties of that hioh office 



\\W I 'i'pnTu^ 




CL E VE L A XD- BLAIXE CA MPA IGiV. 1 I 1 

v;Ith a solemn determination to dedicate every 
effort to the country's good, and with an humble 
reliance upon the favor and support of the 
Supreme Being, who I believe will always bless 
honest human endeavor in the conscientious dis- 
charge of public duty. 

"GROVER CLEVELAND. 

''To Colonel William F. Vilas, Chairman, and D. 
P. Besfor, and others, members of the Notifica- 
tion Committee of the Democratic National Con^ 
vcjition!' 

independent support of CLEVELAND. 

The serious and earnest tone which pervaded 
bodi of these deliverances commended their author 
to the hearty support of a great body of electors 
whose votes had been seldom of late years cast 
for Democratic nominees. 

Among the prominent Republicans who made 
speeches or otherwise took an active part in favor 
of the election of Mr . Cleveland were George 
William Curtis, editor of Harpers Weekly; Carl 
Schurz, ex-Secretary of the Interior; Rev. Henry 
Ward Beecher; Colonel Charles R. Codman, Col- 
onel Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Henry L, 
Pierce, the late Rev. James Freeman Clarke, all of 
Boston ; ex-Senator Wadleigh, of New Hamp- 
shire ; ex-Governors Daniel H. Chamberlain, of 
South Carolina, Blair, of Michigan, and Pound, of 
Wisconsin; Henry C. Lea, of Philadelpiiia, be- 



It 2 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

sides hundreds of able though less widely know*^ 
men in every part of the United States who 
were active in the promotion of the principles and 
the success of the Republican party so long as they 
thouorht its candidates creditable and honest men. 
While the independent candidacy of General 
Butler and his support by the New York Sun — 
which journal, late a supporter of the Democratic 
party, had become the most virulent foe of its 
candidate — distracted what was known as the 
" Labor vote " in some quarters, the candidacy of 
Governor St. John on the Prohibition ticket in 
equal degree weakened the Republican party, and 
diverted from it a considerable part of its strength 
in close States where it was not easily spared. 

Influential independent and Republican journals, 
like the Boston Herald and Ti^anscript, the New 
York Herald, Times, Evening Post, and Harper s 
Weekly, \ki^ Philadelphia T?*;;^^?^, Indianapolis A^^ze^^, 
and the powerful and effective cartoons and cari- 
catures of Puck, gave to the Cleveland campaign 
a journalistic support which his party had not 
enjoyed for a generation ; and they were a tre- 
mendous factor in achievinof the successful result. 

Throughout the campaign Governor Cleveland 
bore himself with great dignity, composure, and 
self-reliance. He exercised with his usual dili- 
gence and efficiency the functions of the Guber- 
natorial office in Albany ; he seldom went beyond 
the borders of his own State, and never neglected 



CLEVELAND-BLAINE CAMPAIGN. II3 

the duties of its Chief Magistracy to promote 
hiS election or to serve the purposes of the party 
managers. His few speeches were characterized 
by the same seriousness and sincerity which 
pervaded all the utterances of his official career, 
and one of the effects of the popular confidence 
thus gained was seen in the steady increase of his 
support in business and financial circles ; the 
Commercial Exchanges of New York and other 
centres of trade manifested a great preponderance 
of sentiment in his favor. 

In contrast with his campaign and his personal 
conduct was the wild pageantry with which Blaine 
was conducted over the country, culminating in a 
series of ovations, dinners, and receptions in 
New York city. One of these, a select assem- 
blage of millionaires to do honor to the Republican 
candidate, created a strong feeling that his election 
was chiefly desired by the plutocrats and monopo- 
lists ; at another a misfit preacher named Bur- 
chard dropped an ill-timed remark, aspersing the 
Democracy as the party of "Rum, Romanism, and 
Rebellion," and to these two incidents many of 
Mr. Blaine's admirers lay the accountability for the 
slender adverse plurality which lost to him New 
York and the Presidency. 

AMONG OLD FRIENDS. 

In the course of this campaign, and when the 
fiercest attacks upon his private character were 
beine made, Mr. Cleveland made a visit to his old 



1 T4 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

home and to the friends of his youth and manhood 
in Buffalo. On October 2d, 1884, after the longest, 
interval of absence during his thirty years resi- 
dence there, he was received with such an ovation 
of enthusiasm as testified that his hold upon the 
affections and esteem of his fellow-townsmen had 
not weakened. For the people of that great city, 
Henry Martin, President of the Manufacturers' 
and Tradesmen's Bank, welcomed him, and, in a 
speech of reply. Governor Cleveland, referring to 
the significance of the greeting, said with great 
pathos : 

'Tt tells me that my neighbors are still my 
friends. It assures me that I have not been alto- 
gether unsuccessful in my efforts to deserve their 
confidence and attachment. In years to come, I 
shall deem myself not far wrong if I still retain 
their good opinion ; and if surrounding cares and 
perplexities bring but anxiety and vexation, I 
shall find solace and comfort in the memory of the 
days spent here, and in recalling the kindness of 
my Buffalo friends." 

To the great business men's meeting in Nev/ 
York, to which Mr. Tilden sent a letter of char- 
acteristic strength, Mr. Cleveland spoke with 
entire acceptability, and in his Newark, N. J., 
speech, near the close of the campaign, he thus 
foreshadowed what has come to be the supreme 
issue of political discussion in the closing years 
of his first term : 

" It is quite plain, too, that the people have a 



CLEVELAND-BLAINE CAMPAIGN. II5 

right to demand that no more money should be 
taken from them directly or indirectly for public 
uses than is necessary for an honest and econom- 
ical administration of public affairs. Indeed, the 
rio^ht of the Government to exact tribute from the 
citizens is limited to its actual necessities, and 
every cent taken from the people beyond that re- 
quired for their protection by the Government is 
no better than robbery. We surely must con- 
demn, then, a system which takes from the pock- 
ets of the people millions of dollars not needed 
for the support of the Government, and which 
tends to the inauguration of corrupt schemes 
and extravagant expenditures. 

" The Democratic party has declared that all 
taxation shall be limited by the requirements of 
an economical Government. This is plain and 
direct ; and it distinctly recognizes the value of 
labor and its ricrht to oovernmental care when it 
further declares that the necessary reduction in 
taxation and limitation thereof to the country's 
needs should be effected without destroying 
American labor, or the ability to compete success- 
fully with foreign labor, and without injuring the 
interests of our laboring population." 

In the last speech of the 1884 campaign, at 
Bridgeport, Connecticut, he said: 

'' The world does not present a more sublime 
spectacle than a nation of freemen determining 
their own cause, and the leader whom they follow 
at such a time may well feel a sober, solemn sense 



Il6 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

of responsibility. The plaudits of his fellows he 
should feel, but only to feel more Intensely what 
a serious thing it is to have in keeping their hopes 
and their confidence." 



Two years before, when there opened to him 
the wide prospect of election to the Gubernatorial 
chair of New York, he had, in the privacy of his 
own family circle, written the following letter, 
which accidentally came to light In the campaign 
of 1884, only to disclose his modest and yet self- 
reliant character, his consecration to public duty, 
and utter disregard of any other consideration 
than the conscientious exercise of solemn trust: 

Mayor's Office, Buffalo, N. Y., 

November 7th, 1883. 

My Dear Brother : — I have just voted. I sit 
here in the Mayor's office alone, with the excep- 
tion of an artist from Frank Leslie's newspaper, 
who is sketching the office. If mother were here 
I should be Vv^rltinof to her, and I feel as if it were 
time for me to write to some one who will believe 
what I write. I have been for some time In the 
atmosphere of certain success, so that I have 
been sure that I should assume the duties of the 
hieh office for which I have been named. I have 
tried hard In the light of this fact to properly 
appreciate the responsibilities that will rest upon 
me, and they are much — too much — underesti- 




ROSWELL P. FLOWER, 
Governor of New York. 



CLE VELAND BLAINE CAMPAIGN. I I 7 

mated. But the thouoht that has troubled me Is: 
Can I well perform my duties, and in such a 
manner as to do some good to the people of the 
State ? I know there is room for it, and I know 
that I am honest and sincere in my desire to do 
well, but the question is whether I know enough 
to accomplish what I desire. 

The social life which seems to await me has 
also been a subject of much anxious thought. I 
have a notion that I can regulate that very much 
as I desire, and if I can I shall spend very little 
in the purely ornamental part of the office. In 
point of fact, I will tell you, first of all others, the 
policy I intend to adopt, and that is to make the 
matter a business enofaeement between the 
people of the State and myself, in which the 
obligation on my side is to perform the duties 
assigned me with an eye single to the interest of 
my employers. I shall have no idea of re-election 
or of any higher political preferment in my head, 
but be very thankful and happy if I can well 
serve one term as the people's Governor. Do 
you know that if mother were alive I should feel 
so much safer? I have always thought her 
prayers had much to do with my success. I shall 
expect you to help me in that way. 

Give my love to and to , if she is 

with you, and believe me. 

Your affectionate brother, 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 



ii8 



LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 



The State election In Ohio took place In Octo- 
l)er and was carried by the Republican candidates 
for State offices. Mr. Blaine made an election- 
eering tour tnroucrh that State durinnf the latter 
part of September, and the most active efforts were 
put forth to secure a favorable result. The Demo- 
crats carried Georgia and West Virginia, so that 
the State elections which had long been supposed 
to influence the general result at the Presidential 
election, were deemed an offset to each other, Indi- 
ana havlncr ceased to be an October State. 

The election was held on November 4th, 1884, 
resultlno" in the choice of electors as follows : 



FOR CLEVELAND. 

Alabama, lo 

Arkansas 7 

Connecticut, 6 

Delaware, 3 

Florida, 4 

Georgia, 12 

Indiana, 15 

Kentucky, 13 

Louisiana, 8 

Maryland, 8 

Mississippi, 9 

Missouri, . 16 

New Jersey^ 9 

New York, 36 

North Carolina, 1 1 

South Carolina, 9 

Tennessee, , . 12 

Texas, 13 

Virginia 12 

West Virginia, 6 

Total, 219 



FOR BLAINE. 

California, 8 

Colorado, 3 

Illinois, 22 

Iowa, 13 

Kansas, 9 

Maine, 6 

Massachusetts, 14 

Michigan, 13 

Minnesota, 7 

Nebraska, 5 

Nevada, 3 

New Hampshire, 4 

Ohio, 23 

Oregon, 3 

Pennsylvania, 30 

Rhode Island, 4 

Vermont, 4 

Wisconsin, 11 

Total, iSa 



CLEVELAND-BLAINE CAMPAIGN. I I9 

The popular vote aggregated as follows: 

Cleveland, 4,874,986 Butler, I73,370 

Blaine, 4,851,981 St. John, 150,369 

For some days after the election an attempt 
was made to represent the result as doubtful be- 
cause the plurality in the State of New York was 
small. But the effort was so decidedly the last 
expirini^- hope of a defeated party that it produced 
no other feelini^ stronirer than distrust and a de- 
termination that no such fraudulent result as that 
of 1876 should be declared. In four days after 
the election the result was universally accepted. 

The managers of the defeated party, in their 
intense disappointment, vented their rage partly 
upon the Prohibitionists, and to some degree upon 
the luckless speech of Rev. Dr. Burchard; their 
deepest resentment, however, was exhibited 
against the so-called " Mugwumps," for whom no 
terms of reproach were deemed too violent. The 
Independent Republicans, who had vainly pro- 
tested against Blaine's nomination and had con- 
tributed to his defeat at the polls, received the 
abuse now heaped upon them with great com- 
placency and hopefully looked to the new Admin- 
istration for their vindication. 

The Democrats over the whole country cele- 
brated their victory with jubilees, barbecues, 
parades, and varied methods of popular rejoicing. 
The celebration of 1876 had been premature; 
but now the triumphant party gave vent to dem- 



I20 LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

onstratlons of unqualified and unrestrained joy. 
Amid all this, in many quarters, were heard the 
warning voices of discreet leaders, pointing out 
that the victory should be interpreted as a tri- 
umph of the better elements of all parties, and a 
narrow escape of the Government from threatened 
perils rather than a mere partisan achievement. 
Speculation was rife as to how a comparatively 
untried man would meet and deal with the great 
responsibilities of an office coming to him under 
the peculiar circumstances of the campaign of 
1884. 



CHAPTER IX. 

PREPARING FOR THE NEW ADMINISTRATION. 

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM — THE SILVER QUESTION. 

^ ¥ ^HE interval between the retirement of 
Governor Cleveland from the Executive 



i 



chair of New York, which David B. Hill, 
the Lieutenant-Governor, was now called upon to 
fill, and the inauguration of a Democratic Ad- 
ministration at the Federal capital, was busily 
occupied with consultations and plans for the re- 
organization in Federal power of a party virtually 
excluded from it for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury. Chief in all such councils and first among 
all counselors of the President-elect, then and 
ever since, was and has been Colonel Daniel S. 
Lamont, who was soon to be translated from the 
position of Private Secretary to the Governor of 
New York to that of Private Secretary to the 
President of the United States. A young man, 
trained in the best school of New York politics, 
experienced in journalism, quick to perceive the 
value and character of men, discreet in speech, 
and efficient in commanding the largest share of 
information from any visitor, whether he has an 
axe to grind or comes merely as an interested 

121 



122 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

observer of the action and character of others 
— he has shown hunself the most intelHgent, as he 
has become the best known of all the men who 
in the arduous and difficult post of Private Secre- 
tary have contributed to increase the interest and 
the pleasure or to lighten the labor of men in the 
public life of the United States. 

To most men the lack of all experience in pub- 
lic life in a Federal office would have been a seri- 
ous drawback on the threshold of an Administra- 
tion which was to bring back to the country the 
policy of a party long excluded. But it was rather 
an advantao^e to Grover Cleveland. He had none 
of those prejudices, those likes and dislikes, which 
incessantly surround the men who have had many 
years experience in the somewhat artificial and 
insincere life of Washington. He did not know 
personally any large number of those with whom 
he was destined to deal. But he had patience, 
the faculty of investigating everything with care, 
and of deciding it on its merits, and he had an 
insight into men and their characters which is rare. 

There were more things to do in the interval 
between the election in November, 1884, and the 
inauguration of March 4th, 1885, than the mere 
choosing of men to carry out the policy of the new 
President and the party behind him. Delegations 
with ideas of various kinds, which they w^ere anx- 
ious to force upon the attention of the powers 
that were to be, had to be received and answered. 



THE PRE PARA TION. I 2 5 

Eccentric men and women must be received and 
treated with a politeness which such persons at 
times do much to strain. The admonition of many 
well-meaning persons without ideas or mission, 
but with a capacity for curiosity, had to be accepted 
in a spirit as meek as was consonant with the fail- 
ings of humanity. Most important, and most dif- 
ficult of all, the man who was to take upon him- 
self such a burden was compelled continually to 
enunciate anew the principles upon which he 
would seek to shape his policy. His election had 
been promoted by the support of a large and 
growing class of men in politics formerly denom- 
inated by the somewhat indefinite name of " inde- 
pendent voters," but known during the campaign 
and since by the title of '' Mugwumps " — a distinct- 
ive addition to the nomenclature of politics. 

CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM LETTER. 

Before his retirement from the Governorship, 
under date of December 25th, 1884, Mr. Cleve- 
land wrote a letter to Mr. George William Curtis, 
President of the National Civil Service Reform 
Association, in which he laid down with great dis- 
tinctness the general policy which he wished to 
pursue in the matter of removals from office and 
appointments. In this letter the President-elect 
said : 

" That a practical reform In the civil service is 
abundantly established by the fact that a statute 



1 2 5 ^/^^ 0^ GkO VER CLE VELaND. 

referred to in your communication to secure such 
a result has been passed in Congress with the 
assent of both political parties, and by the further 
fact that a sentiment is generally prevalent among 
patriotic people calling for the. fair and honest 
enforcement of the law which has thus been en- 
acted. I regard myself pledged to this, because 
my conception of true Democratic faith and pub- 
lic duty requires that this and all other statutes 
should be in good faith and without evasion en- 
forced, and because in many utterances made 
prior to my election as President, approved by 
the party to which I belong, and which I have no 
disposition to disclaim, I have in effect promised 
the people that this should be done. 

"I am not unmindful of the fact, to which you 
refer, that many of our citizens fear that the recent 
party changes in the national Executive may 
demonstrate that the abuses which have grown 
up in the civil service are ineradicable. I know 
that they are deeply rooted, and that the spoils 
system has been supposed to be intimately related 
to success in the maintenance of party organiza- 
tion, and I am not sure that all those who profess 
to be the friends of this reform will stand firmly 
among its advocates when they find it obstructing 
their way to patronage and place. 

" But fully appreciating the trust committed to 
my charge, no such consideration shall cause a 
relaxation on my part of an earnest effort to en- 
force the law. 

"There is a class of Government positions which 
are not within the letter of the civil-service statute, 
but which are so disconnected with the policy of 
an Administration that the removal therefrom 



THE PRE PARA TION. 1 1 7 

of present incumbents, In my opinion, should 
not be made during the term for which they 
were appointed solely on partisan grounds, and 
for the purpose of putting in their places those 
who are in political accord with the appointing 
power. 

" But many now holding such positions have 
forfeited all just claim to retention because they 
have used their places for party purposes, in dis- 
regard of their duty to the people, and because, 
instead of being decent public servants, they have 
proved themselves offensive partisans and un- 
scrupulous manipulators of local party manage- 
ment. 

"The lessons of the past should be unlearned, 
and such officials, as well as their successors, 
should be taught that efficiency and fitness and 
devotion to public duty are the conditions of their 
continuance in public place, and that the quiet 
and unobtrusive exercise of individual political 
rights is the reasonable measure of their party 
service. 

*'If I were addressing none but party friends, I 
should deem it entirely proper to remind them 
that, though the comlne Administration is to be 
Democratic, a due regard for the people's interest 
does not permit faithful party work to be always 
rewarded by appointment to office, and to say to 
them that^ while Democrats may expect all proper 
consideration, selections for office not embraced 
within the civil-service rules will be based upon 
sufficient inquiry as to fitness instituted by those 
charged with that duty, rather than persistent 
importunity or self-solicited recommendations on 
behalf of candidates for appointment." 



128 ^^^^ ^^ GROVER CLEVELAND. 

THE SILVER LETTER OF 1 885. 

Another element of strength to Mr. Cleveland 
in the exciting campaign which had just closed was 
the general impression of his substantial sound- 
ness on all financial questions, measured by the 
standards of Jefferson, Jackson, and Tilden, and 
by the general acceptance by the people of the 
country after many years of agitation of the dan- 
ger of inflation of a currency worth less than its 
face. At the time under discussion there was a 
general fear on the part of thoughtful students of 
financial questions that disaster would finally re- 
sult from the compulsory coinage under the law 
of 1878 of a minimum of two millions of silver 
dollars each month. Mr. Cleveland, a short time 
before his inauguration, in a letter under date of 
February 28th, 1885, and addressed to Mr. War- 
ner, a representative from the State of Ohio, and 
others, set forth his views upon this question at 
considerable length and with much positiveness. 
Besides other things, he said : 

*' To the Hon. A. y. Warner and others, Members 
of the Forty-eighth Congress. 

" Gentlemen : The letter which I have had the 
honor to receive from you invites, and indeed 
obliges, me to give expression to some grave 
public necessities, although in advance of the 
moment when they would become the objects of 
my official care and partial responsibility. Your 



THE PREPARATION. I 29 

solicitude that my judgment shall have been care- 
fully and deliberately farmed is entirely just, and 
I accept the suggestion in the same friendly spirit 
in which it has been made. It is also fully justi- 
fied by the nature of the financial crisis which, 
under the operation of the act of Congress of 
February 28th, 1878, is now close at hand. 

^' By a compliance with the requirements of 
that law all the vaults of the Federal Treasury 
have been and are heaped full of silver coins, 
which are now worth less than eighty-five per 
cent, of the gold dollar prescribed as the unit of 
value in section 16 of the act of February 12th, 
1873, and which, with the silver certificates repre- 
senting such coin, are receivable for all public 
dues. Being thus receivable, while also constantly 
increasing in quantity at the rate of $28,000,000 
a year, it has followed of necessity that the flow 
of gold into the Treasury has steadily diminished. 
Silver and silver certificates have displaced and are 
now displacing the gold in the Federal Treasury 
now available for the crold oblio^ationsof the United 
States and for redemption of the United States 
notes called ' greenbacks,' if not already en- 
croached upon, is perilously near such encroach- 
ment. 

" These are facts which, as they do not admit of 
difference of opinion, call for no argument. They 
have been forewarned to us in the official reports 
of every Secretary of the Treasury, from 1878 till 
now. They are plainly affirmed in the last De- 
cember report of the present Secretary of the 
Treasury to the Speaker of the present House of 
Representatives. They appear in the official doc- 
uments of this Congress, and in the records of the 



130 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

New York Clearing-house, of which the Treasury 
is a member, and through which the bulk of the 
receipts and payments of the Federal Government 
and country pass. 

"These being the facts of our present condi- 
tion, our danger, and our duty to avert that dan- 
ger, would seem to be plain. I hope that you 
concur with me and with the great majority of our 
fellow-citizens, in deeming it most desirable at the 
present juncture to maintain and continue in use 
the mass of our gold coin, as well as the mass of 
silver already coined. This is possible by a pres- 
ent suspension of the purchase and coinage ot 
silver. I am not aware that by any other method 
it is possible. It is of momentous importance 
to prevent the two metals from parting company ; 
to prevent the increasing displacement of gold by 
the increasing coinage of silver ; to prevent the 
disuse of gold in the custom-houses of the United 
States in the daily business of the people; to pre- 
vent the ultimate expulsion of gold by silver. 
Such a financial crisis as these events would cer- 
tainly precipitate, were it now to follow upon so 
long a period of commercial depression, would 
involve the people of every city and every State 
in the Union in a prolonged and disastrous trou- 
ble. The revival of business enterprise and pros- 
perity so ardently desired, and apparently so near, 
would be hopelessly postponed. Gold would be 
withdrawn to its hoarding places, and an unpre- 
cedented contraction in the actual volume of our 
currency would speedily take place. 

" Saddest of all, in every workshop, mill, factor}', 
store, and on every railroad and farm the wages 
of labor, already depressed, would suffer still fur- 



THE PREPARATION. I'^x 

ther depression by a scaling down of the purchas- 
ino- power of every so-called dollar paid into the 
halids of toil. From these impending calamities, 
it is surely a most patriotic and grateful duty of 
the representatives of the people to deliver them. 

'*! am, gendemen, with sincere respect, your 
fellow-citiz%n, . ^j^q^ER CLEVELAND. 

*' Albany, February 24th, 1885." 



CHAPTER X. 

THE INAUGURATION. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION — THE CABINET OFFICERS 
AND HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, 



A 



S the day for the Inauguration of the Presi- 
dent drew near, pubHc interest in the men 
who would be chosen as his constitutional 
advisers became more and more aroused. At a 
comparatively early day Mr. Cleveland adopted a 
policy, which he has since carried out with much 
success, of giving out informally and unofficially 
indications of any important appointment, message, 
or policy upon which he had determined. In this 
way it was generally known that Senator Bayard, 
of Delaware, would be tendered the office of Sec- 
retary of State, nominally considered the leading 
place in the Cabinet because first created and sur- 
rounded by traditions which gave it this rank by 
Thomas Jefferson, the first incumbent of the 
office under President Washington. From time 
to time hints were let fall as to other members of 
the Cabinet, although no official announcement 
was made until the day following the inauguration, 
when their names were sent to the Senate. 
132 2 




STARTING FOR THE INAUGURATION. 



THE INAUGURATION. I 35 

The day fixed by law for the inauguration of 
the new President, March 4th, 1885, was the most 
perfect, from an atmospheric point of view, that 
Washinorton had seen for months. The President- 
elect, accompanied by the Vice-President-elect, 
INIr. Hendricks, and members of the Senate Com- 
mittee appointed to escort them to the Capitol, 
went at about half-past ten o'clock to the White 
House, where President Arthur and the Marshal 
of the district were in waitinor. A start was made 
at once, the carriages falling into line in the place 
arranged for them by the Chief Marshal, General 
Henry W. Slocum, of New York. The Regular 
Army, the Marines, the Navy, the Artillery, the 
Marine Band and detachments from the militia of 
several States contributed to swell the procession 
to somethinof like twentv-five thousand men. As 
usual, the ceremonies of inauguration were per- 
formed at the east front of the Capitol, and in 
this case before an audience estimated to number 
one hundred and fifty thousand. Mr. Cleveland 
was dressed in the regulation Prince Albert suit. 
In speaking he held his left hand closed behind 
his back, usinof his rio^ht hand for makingr the cus- 
tomary gestures of the public speaker. He spoke 
without manuscript, as is his wont, and in a clear, 
resonant voice. His self-confidence and compo- 
sure were as marvelous to the hundreds of more 
experienced public men who surrounded him as 
they were novel and yet reassuring to the people 



1^6 ^^P^ ^P GROVER CLEVELAND. 

of the country. The most important utterances 
of his inaugural address were as follows : 

EXTRACTS FROM THE INAUGURAL. 

"Amid the din of party strife the people's 
choice was made, but its attendant circumstances 
demonstrated anew the strength and safety of a 
government by the people. 

" In each succeeding year it more clearly ap- 
pears that our Democratic principle needs no 
apology, and that in its fearless and faithful ap- 
plication is to be found the surest guaranty of 
good government. But the best results in the 
operation of a government wherein every citizen 
has a share largely depend upon a proper limita- 
tion of purely partisan zeal and effort, and a cor- 
rect appreciation of the time when the heat of the 
partisan should be merged in the patriotism of 
the citizen. 

" To-day the Executive branch of the govern- 
ment is transferred to new keeping, but this is 
still the government of all the people, and it 
should be none the less an object of affectionate 
solicitude. At this hour the animosities of polit- 
ical strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and 
the exultation of partisan triumph should be sup- 
planted by an ungrudging aquiescence in the 
popular will, and a sober, conscientious concern 
for the general weal. 

" Moreover, if from this hour we cheerfully and 
honesdy abandon all secdonal prejudice and dis- 
trust, and determine with manly confidence in one 
another to work out harmoniously the achieve- 
ments of our national destiny, we shall deserve to 



THE INAUGURATION. X^J 

realize all the benefits which our happy form of 
government can bestow ; on this conspicuous oc- 
casion we may well renew the pledge of devotion 
to the Constitution, which, launched by the found- 
ers of the Republic and consecrated by their 
prayers and patriotic devotion, has for almost a 
century borne the hopes and the aspirations of a 
great people through prosperity and peace, and 
through the foreign conflicts and the perils of do- 
mestic strife and vicissitudes. 

" By the Father of his Country our Constitution 
was commended for adoption, as * the result of 
a spirit of amity and mutual concession.' In that 
same spirit it should be administered, in order to 
promote the lasting welfare of the country, and to 
secure the full measure of its priceless benefits to 
us and to those who will succeed to the blessings 
of our national life. The large variety of diverse 
and competing interests subject to Federal 
control, persistently seeking the recognition of 
their claims, need o^ive us no fear that the crreat- 
est orood to the greatest number will fail to beac- 
compllshed, If in the halls of the National Legis- 
lature that spirit of amity and mutual concession 
shall prevail in which the Constitution had Its 
birth. 

" If this involves the surrender or postpone- 
ment of private Interests, the sacrifice of local van- 
tages, compensation will be found in assurance 
that thus the minor interest Is subserved and 
the general welfare advanced." 

ADVISERS OF THE EXECUTIVE. 

It was not until the next day after the Inaugu- 
ration ceremonies that the curiosity of the country 



/i>§ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

o 

concerning the Cabinet was officially gratified. 
Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State, had seen 
long service in the Senate from the State of Dela- 
ware, and had attained such prominence that he 
had been voted for in three National Conventions 
as a candidate for President. His nature was 
conservative ; his mind was trained to politics from 
early manhood by a close study of our system of 
orovernment. He had taken hi^h rank as a law- 
yer, both in the practice of his profession and in 
legal arguments before that august body, the 
Senate of the United States. His appointment 
as Secretary of State gave general satisfaction 
because of the known dignity of his character, 
his conservatism., and his lack of those fiery and 
impractical qualities which distinguish demagogues 
and men of so-called " mao^nedsm." His career 
in the State Department has justified the hopes of 
his friends and confounded his enemies. 

The man selected for that most important and 
difficult office, Secretary of the Treasury, was 
Daniel Mannincr of the State of New York. He 
was a man whose career illustrated the eenius of 
our institutions better, perhaps, than that of any 
one who ever occupied that office. A memberof a 
worthy family in his native State of New York, 
he was early apprenticed to learn the trade of 
printer in the office of the Argus at Albany. Here 
his industry, his unfailing good sense, and his 
energy gave him the opportunities he needed. 




THOMAS F. BAYARD, SECRETARY OF STATE. 



THE INAUGURATION. I4I 

As a result he rose rapidly through different 
grades of the business and editorial departments 
of the paper until he became its editor and 
owner. With business prosperity he had also 
entered into the bankinor business, and thus turned 
his attention to the study of financial questions. 
Always active in politics, he rose with each step 
of his business and professional advancement in 
the councils of his party, until, as Chairman of the 
State Committee, in the first Democratic State of 
the Union, he became the Warwick who made 
Governors and Presidents without subjecting 
himself to the charcre of beinor a " boss '' — that 
great bugbear of the modern prudes of politics. 
He had early recognized the qualities of Mr. 
Cleveland, both practical and available, and he 
was the earnest and successful leader in direct- 
ine his nomination for President, as well as a 
potent factor in securing his election. His 
career as Secretary of the Treasury \vas, taking 
its brevity into consideration, the most brilliant 
in the history of the United States ; and when, 
after less than two years service, he was com- 
pelled to resign because of impaired health, he 
retired with universal respect and admiration of 
his countrymen, and when he died, early in the 
present year, he was as sincerely mourned as a 
loss to our politics as if he had been for many 
years one of the leading figures in shaping the 
policies of a great nation. 



14^ L IFE OF GR VER CLE VELAND. 

For Attorney-General the President selected 
Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas. One of the 
ablest lawyers of his State, he had been its Gover- 
nor in the troublous times of the carijet-bao'trers, 
which so tried the souls of honest men, and he 
had rendered conspicuous service in ridding his 
State and section of these human pests. His 
service in the Senate of the United States had de- 
monstrated his attainments as a lawyer, his 
patriotism and honesty as a man, and his useful- 
ness as a legislator. 

To William C. Whitney, of- the State of New 
York, was confided the difficult task of takinor 
the Navy Departm.ent and of redeeming it from 
reproach. He was the youngest man in the 
Cabinet, but he had done conspicuous work for 
the cause of good government in the State and 
city of New York ; and as corporation counsel 
ot that great municipality he had shown the energy 
and executive efficiency which in his present 
larger sphere have made his department clean 
and respectable. The success attending his 
efforts to restore the navy on sound business 
principles has justified the confidence reposed in 
him by President Cleveland ; and the present 
political " solidity " of New York vindicates the 
wisdom of the daring experiment of taking two 
Cabinet officers from a single State. 

For Secretary of War, William C. Endicott, 
who had seen judicial service in his native State 




AUGUSTUS H. GARLAND. 



THE INAUGURATION. I 45 

of Massachusetts, was selected. He was the 
least known of the members of the new Cabinet; 
but the absence of scandal and the preservation 
of discipline in his department show his honesty 
and ability. 

The Post-Office Department is in many re- 
spects the mo-t important and most difficult port- 
folio in the Cabinet of the President. Its subor- 
dinates greatly outnumber those of all others 
combined, its efficiency is tested even in the re- 
motest hamlet, and its revenues give it second 
place in rank. Wm. F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, had 
the training of a lawyer who had always been an 
apt and ardent student of politics. He gave close 
attention to every detail of the work in his De- 
partment and rendered excellent service in it 
until his transfer to the head of the Interior De- 
partment in December, 1887. 

L. O. C. Lamar, then a Senator of the United 
States from Mississippi, was chosen as Secretary 
of the Interior. Under his direction, the many 
and serious abuses in his Department were cor- 
rected. He carried out a wise policy of dealing 
with the Indians under which peaceful relations 
have been uniformly maintained since March, 1885; 
he inaugurated reforms in the affairs of the Patent 
Office ; he selected careful and honest men to 
manacre the Pension Office and the Aericultural 
Departm.ent; he took firm measures to bring the 
delinquentPacificRailroads to account,and carried 



1^5 ^^^^ OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

out In the most conscientious way the policy 
of reclaiming land grants to railroads after 
they had lapsed because of a failure to perform 
the condition of the orrants. His course in office 
fully justified the choice of the President, and his 
appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States was only regretted because 
it took him out of an executive office which he 
had managed faithfully and well. 

The first vacancy In the Cabinet was caused by 
the retirement of Daniel Manning from the office 
of Secretary of the Treasury. He was succeeded 
by Charles S. Falrchild, who was promoted from 
the position of First Assistant Secretary. He had 
had a careful training in the larger politics of 
the State of New York, where he had rendered 
conspicuous service as Attorney-General In pros- 
ecution of the canal frauds unearthed by Mr. 
Tllden while Governor. He has shown himselfa 
worthy successor of Mr. Manning, of whose policy 
he himxself has always been a faithfu-1 pupil and 
follower. 

By the appointment of Mr. Lamar to a judge- 
ship of the Supreme Court, and the ensuing trans- 
fer of Mr. Vilas from the Post-Office Department 
to the Interior, Don M. Dickinson, of Michigan, 
became Postmaster-General. Durlne" his brief 
term of service he has shown the Industry, hon- 
esty, and executive capacity, as well as political 
good sense, which long distinguished hira as the 




W. C. WHITNEY 



THE INAUGURATIOX 



149 



head of his profession and the leader of his party 
in Michigan. 

HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS. 

Scarcely less important than the selection of a 
Cabinet of constitutional advisers was the choice 
of men to fill those offices popularly recognized 
as of the second grade, the duties of whose posi- 
tions compel them none the less to study and 
learn the details of their various departments, and 
upon whom the President and the heads of de- 
partments m\ist in a large measure depend. 
Among the men thus chosen^ and chosen with- 
out mistake, were John Goode, of Virginia, as 
Solicitor-General of the United States. His 
nomination was defeated in a partisan Senate by 
the petty malice of William Mahone, whose ne- 
farious and disgraceful schemxes Mr. Goode had 
exposed at every turn, and with just, unsparing 
severity. Another was the lamented and gifted 
Malcolm Hay, of Pennsylvania, whose illness, 
soon after proving fatal, compelled his early res- 
ignation as First Assistant Postmaster-General. 
His successor, A. E. Stevenson, of Illinois, charged 
especially with the selection of fourth-class post- 
masters, by far the most numerous class of public 
servants, has carried out with conspicuous fidelity 
the policy, the necessity of which became early 
apparent, of making the postal service effective 
by removing the men whose only desire was to 



I50 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



obstruct its operations in order to embarrass th?s 
new Administration. George A. Jenks, one of 
the foremost lawyers of Pennsylvania, who, as 
counsel for Tilden before the Electoral Commission, 
achieved more reputation in one Congressional 
term than comes to most public men in a lifetime, 
became Assistant Secretary of the Interior, and 
was a terror to the violators of the land and 
other laws with the execution of which he was 
charged. He was finally promoted to be Solici- 
tor-General of the United States. Charles S. 
Fairchild and Judge Isaac H. Maynard, of New 
York, together v;ith ex-Governor Hugh J. Thomp- 
son, of South Carolina, have done good work as 
Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury; while Gen- 
eral William S. Rosecrans, of California, as Reg- 
ister of the Treasury; Conrad N. Jordan, of New 
York, as Treasurer of the United States ; Judge 
McCue, of New York, as Solicitor of the Treasury, 
and Milton J. Durham, of Kentucky, as First Comp- 
troller, have rendered service to the Treasury 
and the country in the various positions of trust 
to which they have -been called. In the Interior 
Department the veteran soldier. General Joseph E. 
Johnston, of Virginia, has been conspicuous as 
Commissioner of Railroads ; John D. C. Atkins, 
as Indian Commissioner, and Norman J. Coleman, 
as Commissioner of Agriculture, have adminis- 
tered their Important offices, so large as to be of 
*"he magnitude of and to be called " departments," 




C. ENDICOTTj 



THE INA UG URA TION. I 5 3 

with honesty and efficiency. Scarcely second In 
importance to a Cabinet office Is the great Bureau 
of Pensions, which, under the Conimlsslonership 
of General John C. Black, the veteran soldier and 
maimed hero of the Union cause, has been ad- 
ministered with a promptitude, efficiency, econo- 
my of expenditure, and liberality of construction 
unprecedented under Republican administrations. 
Next In the amount of receipts to the customs 
service Itself Is the system of Internal Revenue, 
which constitutes a department; to the head of 
it the President, with his characteristic sagacity in 
the selection of men, called a vigorous, clear- 
headed, and able executive officer In the person of 
Joseph S. Miller, an ex-Representative in Con- 
gress from West Virginia. 

To the wisdom and fitness of choice displayed 
in these and many other worthy and no less im- 
portant Executive appointments, and to the sin- 
gleness of purpose with which the appointees 
have carried out the President's policies, have 
been largely due the cohesion and success of Mr. 
Cleveland's Administration. 

In the diplomatic service, Edward J. Phelps, 
of Vermont, as Minister to England ; Robert M. 
McLane, of Maryland, as Minister to France; 
George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, as Min.^ster to 
Germany; George V. N. Lothrop, of Michigan, 
as Minister to Russia; J. B. Stallo, of Ohio, as 
Minister to Italy ; Richard B. Hubbard, as Minis^ 



154 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

ter to Japan ; and Thomas M. Waller, of Connect- 
icut, as Consul-General to London, are only some 
of the principal appointments to a branch of the 
service of which not a sincrle member has reflected 
discredit or dishonor upon his country or the 
Administration. 

During the first year of his administration Pres- 
ident Cleveland was subjected to considerable 
criticism in his own party, and to malignant mis- 
representation from without, because of his rigid 
adherence to the civil-service reform policy which 
he had set out to establish and maintain. Many 
of the less thoughtful members of his own party 
made the complaint that he did not proceed rap- 
idly enough in the work of making removals. On 
the other hand, some of his independeiit support- 
ers were inclined to forofet that he was confronted 
by '* a condition, not a theory," and made loud 
outcry each time some cringing incumbent of an 
office was removed that the President w^as forget- 
ting his pledges. Still another class of complaints 
came from Republicans, both in office and out. 
There was general resentment on the part of 
these people at the audacity which would deprive 
them of what they had come to believe was a 
vested right to hold office ; consequently, early in 
the session of the Forty-ninth Congress, the 
Senate, under the lead of Mr. Edmunds, of Ver- 
mont, set up the claim, hitherto never advanced, 
that that body was entitled to the "papers ' upon 




WILLIAM F. VILAS, 



THE INAUGURATION. 



157 



which removals and appointments had been made. 
The President refused to comply with this request, 
holding that such documents affected considera- 
tions private to himself. After some little delay 
the Senate found that its position was indefensible, 
and quietly receded from it, by confirming the men 
appointed to the offices in question. 

On the whole, however, the people of the coun- 
try sustained the President in his position. There 
was general recognition of the fact that many 
unfriendly incumbents of office had impeded the 
service in order to discredit the new Administra- 
tion ; that others had truckled to the new powers 
in the hope that their sudden zeal might hide 
their cowardice and inefficiency; and that still 
others had all of a sudden become great reformers 
when they could no longer prostitute the public 
service to party and selfish ends. The desire of 
the people to see fair play finally triumphed over 
the impatient friends of the President, his imprac- 
ticable supporters who had expected so much, and 
his unscrupulous enemies in the Senate and in 
the minor offices. It was then seen that the 
standard of public service fixed by the new Ad- 
ministration was such a lofty one that no scandal 
had come from the actions of any of the new 
officials, whether in the departments or in the sub- 
ordinate offices ; that the minor places in the de- 
partments at Washington and in the large custom- 
houses and post-of^ces were filled strictly in obe- 



1^8 LII^E OF GROVEk CLEVELAND. 

dience to the civil-service law ; that there were no 
glaring instances in which officials had used their 
places to do political wrongs, and that, as a whole, 
the public service of the United States had never 
been in better condition. For the first time, a 
substantial advance had been made in orenuine 
civil-service reform, and the President's victory 
was secured without the alienation of any influen- 
tial element of his own party, and without violating 
any obligation, express or implied, which he took 
upon himself in becoming its candidate. In the 
years to follow, the wisdom of his policy was to 
be more fully tested and more emphatically ap- 
proved. 

In the death, on the 25th of November, 1885, of 
thehonoredstatesman,ThomasA. Hendricks, Vice- 
President of the United States, the new Demo- 
cratic circle was first broken. From his earliest 
manhood, even before he reached his majority, he 
had upheld the standard of his party, and incul- 
cated such a lofty patriotism that he had never 
done auorht which could be construed as inimical 
to the interests of his country. The highest 
honors were paid to his memory. The President, 
immediately upon the receipt of the sad tidings 
of his death, issued a proclamation to the country, 
recounting his services and directing that the 
various branches of the Government should pay 
the customary tributes of respect to his memory. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. 

MESSAGES TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE PEOPLE— TARIFF REVISION 
AND OTHER REFORMS. 

ON the first Monday in December, 1885, 
the Forty-ninth Congress met, and 
President Cleveland transmitted his first 
annual message. He adverted feelingly in its 
opening sentences to the death of Vice-President 
Hendricks, and paid a warm tribute to his mem- 
ory. He discussed with much fullness all the 
leading questions which affected the country, and 
with general public acceptance. Among the 
issues which have since become of great import- 
ance were the enactment of laws to prevent the 
collection of a surplus revenue, the retention of 
the public lands for actual setders, and the reform 
of the abuses which had crept into the civil 
service. On the reduction of taxation his views 
were so clear and conscientious upon the one 
issue, which he has since projected into import- 
ance, that his conclusions are given at length: 

*'The fact that our revenues are in excess^ of 
the actual needs of an economical adrninistration 
of the Government, justifies a reduction in the 

161 



I 52 Z/y^^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

amount exacted from the people for Its support. 
Our Government is but the means estabHshed by 
the will of a free people by which certain princi- 
ples are applied which they have adopted for their 
benefit and protection ; and it is never better ad- 
ministered and its true spirit is never better ob- 
served than when the people's taxation for its 
support is scrupulously limited to the actual 
necessity of expenditure, and distributed accord- 
ing to a just and equitable plan. 

*' The proposition with which we have to deal 
is the reduction of the revenue received by the 
Government, and indirectly paid by the people 
from customs duties. The question of free trade 
is not involved, nor is there now any occasion for the 
general discussion of the wisdom or expediency 
of a protective system. Justice and fairness dic- 
tate that in any modification of our present laws 
relating to revenue, the industries and Interests 
which have been encouraged by such laws, and In 
which our citizens have large Investments, should 
not be ruthlessly Injured or destroyed. We should 
also deal with the subject In such a manner as to 
protect the Interests of American labor, which is 
the capital of our worklngmen ; Its stability and 
proper remuneration furnish the most justifiable 
pretext for a protective policy. 

"Within these limitations a certain reduction 
should be made in our customs revenue. The 
amount of such reduction having been determined, 
the inquiry follows, where can it best be remitted 
and what articles can best be released from duty, 
in the interests of our citizens? I think the re- 
duction should be made in the revenue derived 
from a tax upon the imported necessaries of life. 



THE PRESIDENT AXD CONGRESS. j(5-» 

We thus directly lessen the cost of living in every 
family of the land, and release to the people in 
every humble home a larger measure of the re- 
wards of frugal industry." 

CIVIL-SERVICE REFORM. 

Having announced his devotion to a genuine 
reform of the civil-service abuses in his letter of 
acceptance, in various letters and speeches during 
the campaign, and in his first inaugural address, 
he took occasion to emphasize anew his position 
in the following language : 

" I am inclined to think that there is no senti- 
ment more general in the minds of the people of 
our country, than a conviction of the correctness 
of the principle upon which the law enforcing civil- 
service reform is based. * * * * Experience in 
its administration will probably suggest amend- 
ment of the methods of its execution, but I venture 
to hope that we shall never again be remitted to the 
system which distributes public positions purely 
as rewards for partisan service. Doubts may well 
be entertained whether our Government could 
survive the strain of a continuance of this system, 
which upon every change of Administration in- 
spires an immense army of claimants for office to 
lay siege to the patronage of Government, en- 
grossing the time of public officers with their im- 
portunities, spreading abroad the contagion of 
their disappointment, and filling the air with the 
tumult of their discontent. 

"The allurements of an immense number of 
offices and places, exhibited to the voters of the 



1 64 



LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 



land, and die promise of their bestowal in recog^ 
nition of partisan activity, debauch the suffrage 
and rob political action of its thoughtful and de- 
liberative character. The evil would increase 
with the multiplication of offices consequent upon 
our extension, and the mania for office-holding, 
growing from its indulgence, would pervade our 
population so generally that joatriotic purpose, the 
support of principle, the desire for the public good, 
and solicitude for the nation's welfare, would be 
nearly banished from the activity of our party 
contests and cause them to degenerate Into ieno- 
ble, selfish, and disgraceful struggles for the pos- 
session of office and public place. Civil-service 
reform enforced by law came none too soon to 
check the progress of demoralization. One of its 
effects, not enough regarded, is the freedom it 
brings to the political action of those conservative 
and sober men who, in fear of the confusion and 
risk attending an arbitrary and sudden change in 
all the public offices with a change of party rule, 
cast their ballots aoalnst such a chance. 

o 

'' Parties seem to be necessary, and will long 
continue to exist; nor can it be now denied that 
there are legitimate advantages, not disconnected 
with office-holding, which follow party supremacy. 
While partisanship continues bitter and pro- 
nounced, and supplies so much of motive to senti- 
ment and action, it is not fair to hold public offi- 
cials, in charge of important trusts, responsible for 
the best results in the performance of their duties, 
and yet insist that they shall rely, in confidential 
and important places, upon the work of those not 
only opposed to them in political affiliation, but so 
steeped in partisan prejudice and rancor that they 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. jg,. 

have no loyalty to their chiefs and no desire for 
their success. Civil-service reform does not ex- 
act this, nor does it require that those In subor- 
dinate positions who fail in yielding their best ser- 
vice, or who are incompetent, should be retained 
simply because they are in place. The whining of 
a clerk discharged for indolence or Incompetency, 
who, though he gained his place by the worst pos- 
sible operation of the spoils system, suddenly 
discovers that he is entitled to protection under 
the sanction of civil-service reform, represents 
an idea no less absurd than the clamor of the 
applicant who claims the vacant position as his 
compensation for the most questionable party 
work. 

"The civil-service law does not prevent the dis- 
charge of the indolent or incompetent clerk, but 
it does prevent supphing his place with the 
unfit party worker. Thus, in both these phases, 
is seen benefit to the public service. And the 
people who desire good government having se- 
cured this statute, will not relinquish its benefits 
without protest. Nor are they unmindful of the 
fact that its full advantages can onlv be eained 
through the complete good faith of those having 
its execution In charge. And this they will insist 
upon." 

THE PUBLIC LANDS. 

Since the advent of the present Adminlstradon 
the policy of preserving the public lands for actual 
settlers has been consistently carried out. Closely 
allied with this policy has been the restoration of 
unearned lands granted to railroads to the public 



J 56 Z//^£: OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

domain. The President had given careful atten- 
tion to the question and thus announced his con- 
clusions : 

" It is not for the * common benefit of the 
United States' that a large area of the public 
lands should be acquired, directly or through 
fraud, in the hands of a single individual. The 
Nation's strength is in the people. The Nation's 
prosperity is in their prosperity. The Nation's 
glory is in the equality of her justice. The 
Nation's perpetuity is in the patriotism of all her 
people. Hence, as far as practicable, the plan 
adopted in the disposal of the public lands should 
have in view the original policy, which encouraged 
many purchasers of these lands for homes, and 
discouraeed the massiuQ^ of larcre areas. Exclu- 
j^ive of Alaska, about three-fifths of the national 
domain has been sold or subjected to contract or 
p-rant. Of the remaininof two-fifths a consider- 
able portion is either mountain or desert. A 
rapidly increasing population creates a growing- 
demand for homes, and the accumulation of 
wealth inspires an eager competition to obtain 
the public land for speculative purposes. In the 
future this collision of interests will be more 
marked than in the past, and the execution of 
the Nation's trust in behalf of our settlers will be 
more difficult. I therefore commend to your 
attention the recommendations contained in the 
report of the Secretary of the Interior with refer- 
ence to the repeal and modification of certain of 
our land laws. 

"The nation has made princely grants and 
subsidies to a system of railroads projected as 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. 



167 



great national highways to connect the Pacific 
States with the East. It has been charo-ed that 
these donations from the people have been di- 
verted to private gain and corrupt uses, and thus 
public indignation has been aroused and suspi- 
cion enorendered. Our areat nation does not 
begrudge its generosity, but It abhors peculation 
and fraud; and the favorable regard of our 
people for the great corporations to which these 
grants were made can only be revived by a 
restoration of confidence, to be secured by their 
constant, unequivocal, and clearly manifested 
integrity. A faithful application of the undimin- 
ished proceeds of the grants to the construction 
and perfecting of their roads, an honest discharge 
of their obligations, and entire justice to all the 
people In the enjoyment of their rights on these 
highways of travel, are all the public asks, and It 
will be content with no less. To secure these 
things should be the common purpose of the 
officers of the Government, as well as of the 
corporations. With this accomplishment, pros- 
perity would be permanently secured to the roads, 
and national pride would take the place of na- 
tional complaint." 

With the same object In view, he interposed his 
veto to maintain the lands of the Indian tribes free 
from Invasion by railroads without the consent of 
the tribes, thus protecting the wards of the nation 
from the exactions of corporations. 

Wherever an attempt has been made by Con- 
gress to surrender any of the rights of Indian 
tribes by giving away privileges to their lands, 



J 58 ^^^^ O^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

President Cleveland has interposed his veto to 
prevent, or has suggested the insertion of new and 
additional safeguards for the better protection of 
their rights. 

PROTECTING THE SETTLERS, 

During the early part of the year 1887, ^^ 
Northern Pacific Railroad Company undertook to 
enforce with much severity certain litigation with 
men who had settled on certain lands afterward 
found to lie within the limits of indemnity lands 
to be selected by the Company for making up any 
deficiencies in the lands granted to it by Congress. 
Among these cases was that of Guilford Miller. 
He claimed that he had settled upon the land in 
1878, and that he had cultivated the same under 
the homestead law until 1884, when he claimed 
title. The case was referred to the Attorney- 
General, who, upon its strictly technical and legal 
aspects, decided against the settler. All the 
papers were, at his request, turned over to the 
President, who examined them with the great 
care and comprehensive industry which has usually 
distinguished his examination of such cases, both 
as Governor and President. On April 25th, 1887, 
he addressed a notable letter to the Secretary of 
the Interior, suggesting a method of settlement, 
which, while not interferine with the risfhts of Mil- 
ler, would also permit the railroad to select an 
equal amount of land from some contiguous por- 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. j 5q 

tion of the public domain to indemnify It for this 
loss. In other words, the President sought a way 
to decide the matter upon the equities of the case, 
in such a way, as he expressed it, "as to protect 
this settler from hardship and loss." 

In the course of his letter he laid down the fol- 
lowing as settling the policy he would pursue : 

"There seems to be no evidence presented 
showing how much, if any, of this vast tract is ne- 
cessary for the fulfillment of the grant to the rail- 
road company, nor does there appear to be any 
limitation of the time within which this fact should 
be made known and the corporation obliged to 
make its selection. After a lapse of fifteen years 
this large body of the public domain Is still held 
in reserve, to the exclusion of settlers, for the 
convenience of a corporate beneficiary of the 
Government, and awaiting its selection, though It 
Is entirely certain that much of this reserved land 
can never be honestly claimed by said corpora- 
tion. Such a condition of the public lands should 
no longer continue. So far as It Is the result of 
executive rules and methods, these should be 
abandoned, and so far as It is a consequence of 
improvident laws, these should be repealed or 
amended. 

"Our public domaip is our national wealth, the 
earnest of our crrowth and the heritaee of our 
people. It should promise limitless development 
and riches, relief to a crowding population, and 
homes to thrift and industry. These Inestimable 
advantages should be jealously guarded, and a 
careful and enlightened policy on the part of the 



170 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Government should secure them to the people. 
In the case under consideration I assume that 
there is an abundance of land within the area 
which has been reserved for indemnity, in which 
no citizen or settler has a legal or equitable inter- 
est, for all purposes of such indemnification to 
this railroad company, if its grant has not already 
been satisfied." 



During the year 1886 an executive proclama- 
tion was issued, directing the removal of the fences 
by which large sections of the public domain in the 
ranch secdons of the country were inclosed. This 
had become one of the most serious of abuses. 
Men who had gained the personal or the party favor 
of men in power had been permitted to fence in 
great tracts of public land, and they had success- 
fully defied all attempts at their removal. But 
from the day that President Cleveland issued his 
order the fences began to come down, and since 
that time thousands of acres of land have thus 
been thrown open for the actual settler. 

By the action of the President and Secretary of 
the Interior, about 20,000,000 acres of land not 
granted to railroads by Congress, but withdrawn 
from settlement as indemnity lands to await the 
convenience of railroad companies, were restored 
to the public domain and thrown open to settle- 
ment. Thousands of homes are being made by 
settlers on these lands. In the Forty-seventh 
Congress the Republicans were in full possession 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. i •; l 

of both branches of Congress, and not one rail- 
road land grant was forfeited. In the Forty- 
eighth and Forty-ninth Congresses the Demo- 
cratic party controlled the House of Representa- 
tives, and these Congresses passed laws restoring 
50,000,000 acres of unearned railroad land grants 
to the public domain. With scarcely an exception 
these bills passed the House before the Senate 
considered them. The Republican Senate passed 
no forfeiture bill that the House did not pass, but 
the House passed bills forfeiting 38,000,000 acres 
of grants that the Republican Senate did not pass, 
and the' House Committee on Public Lands made 
favorable reports on bills to forfeit grants amount- 
ing to 12,000,000 or 13,000,000 more. 

VETOING LOG-ROLLING SCHEMES. 

Another class of questions which early attracted 
President Cleveland's attention was that of appro- 
priadons for public buildings. It has long been 
a recognized scandal to the name of Congress 
that such measures are passed by a system known 
as log-rolling, or members of Congress or State 
delegations voting for an appropriation for a like 
favor to be given in return.. The President early 
in his administration set his face consistently 
against this policy, and has carried it out to its 
logical results by interposing his veto of such ap- 
propriations where the interest or the sum pro- 
posed to be expended largely exceeded the rent 



172 Life of g rover Cleveland. 

paid for public buildings, always taking into con- 
sideration all the elements of the case, such as 
the presence or absence of Federal courts, of 
internal revenue offices, and of such conditions 
as would promote the best interests of the local- 
ity in question. By judicious adherence to this 
policy he has saved large sums of money, and 
saved the country from the dangers which would 
follow the bad precedent otherwise set to future 
legislators and Presidents. 

- He has also interposed the veto power in the 
matter of the private claims so persistently lobbied 
throuorh Congress, insisting that the laws as ad- 
ministered by the courts are generally ample to 
protect the rights of individuals when dealing 
with the Government. He has done much by 
this course to promote the growth of a healthy 
public sentiment which shall demand the reference 
of all such claims to the regular Federal courts 
and to the Court of Claims for adjudication and 
settlement. 

During the second session of the Forty-ninth 
Congress a bill was passed creating an Inter- 
state Commerce Commission, and granting it 
certain powers to prohibit discrimination in rates 
of carrying of passengers and freight. The bill 
was at once signed by the President and a most 
efficient Commission appointed for the purpose 
of carrying its provisions into effect. Of this 
Commission Thomas M. Cooley, of Michigan, one 



THE PRE^IDJENT AND CONGRESS. \ ;? 3 

of the ablest jurists in the country, was elected 
Chairman. The law was universally accepted by 
both the people and the railroads with good re- 
sults. 

The Pacific Railroads having asked for an ex- 
tension of the time granted them by the Thur- 
man Act for making settlement with the Govern- 
ment, an act was passed authorizing the appoint- 
ment of a Commission vested with full power to 
investigate the question in all its bearings. This 
Commission was appointed by President Cleve- 
land, and the majority reported in favor of certain 
rigid assertions of right on the part of the Gov- 
ernment as well as in favor of (rrantine cer- 
tain concessions. Under this report the money 
advanced by the Government would be secured, 
and at the same time the companies would be 
granted such a reasonable extension of time as 
would enable them to fully carry out their ob- 
ligations to the Government, without undue im- 
pairment of their resources or injury to the section 
of country dependent upon them for the promo- 
tion of its interests. The President sent this re- 
port to Congress with favorable recommendations, 
but insisted that the rio^hts of the Government 
should be protected by adequate safeguards. 

Thus at every turn have President Cleveland 
and his advisers shown a careful regard for the 
interests of the people, and a determination to 
carry out the laws enacted to secure those inter- 



174 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



ests. No demagoguery has disfigured these whole 
some efforts to promote the public welfare. No 
crusade against property of any kind has been in- 
dulged in, and no attempt has been made to array 
one class of men ao^ainst another. 

o 

OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS. 

At the first session of the Fiftieth Congress 
the President sent to the Senate a treaty just con- 
cluded with the Emperor of China, by which all 
classes of Chinese excluded from this country 
under our laws were upon a complete and full 
understandinof with China to be excluded durinor 
a term of twenty years. The Administration had 
been able to negotiate this most desirable treaty 
because of its liberal policy in dealing with com- 
pensations paid to the Government of China as 
damages for certain outrages perpetrated upon a 
number of inoffending Chinese in the Territory 
of Wyoming. But partisan feeling was so strong 
in the Senate that a change of a single word was 
made in the treaty, thus rendering it necessary to 
return it to China for ratification. The treaty se- 
cured everything which the Government of the 
United States had sought to accomplish by law, 
and made the term of exclusion long enough to 
turn the tide of Chinese immigration permanently 
away from our shores. 

In his first annual messaofe the President di- 
rected attention sharply to the condition of the 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. I ^5 

law relating to the Presidential succession, with 
the result that bills which had long been pending 
without ability to command support In both 
houses of Congress were taken up and passed 
Into a law which was eminently satisfactory to 
public sentiment, and under the operation of which 
the Presidential succession descends from the 
elected Vice-President to the Cabinet officers, be- 
ginning with the Secretary of State, and not to 
the President /r^ te7n. of the Senate. 

Approval was given to a law designed to check 
the manufacture and sale of products fraudulently 
sold as butter, known as the Oleomargarine Bill, 
the President going extensively into his reasons 
for signing the bill. 

During the first session of the Forty-ninth 
Congress President Cleveland sent a special mes- 
sage to Congress recommending legislation look- 
ing toward a peaceful settlement by arbitration of 
disputes between laboring men and their em- 
ployers. His recommendations were carefully 
drawn, and the narrow constitutional authority of 
Congress over the question was enforced; but it 
showed the President's interest In such questions 
and his anxiety to do whatever lay in his power 
to promote an object so worthy the attention of all 
thoughtful and philanthropic men. 

This review of the principal acts of the Ad^ 
ministration, brief as it Is, Is still sufficient to show 
that every question has been approached with a 



1^6 Ui>E OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

desire and determination to act with promptness, 
intelligence, and vigor on all questions affecting 
the interests of the public. There has been no 
cringing to corporations on the one hand and no 
injustice has been done to them, on the other, 
having purely partisan or political ends in view. 
The rights of our people in foreign countries and 
in commerce have been upheld in a manly and 
straightforward manner, with determination to 
exact what was right, but without bluster or 
bravado. The public service has been clean and 
honest, so that *' public office " has indeed been 
deemed a "public trust." Whether from the 
standpoint of the patriot or the partisan of the 
President, his Administration has fairly justified 
itself, and it has a right to appeal with confidence 
to the country. 

In nothing has the Administration served its 
party and the country better than in demon- 
strating the utter groundlessness of the fears — 
honestly felt in some quarters and pretended in 
others — that a change of parties in control of the 
Government threatened disaster to the business 
interests of the country. The conservative but 
firm policy of the President and his Cabinet in 
all matters touching the relations of the Govern- 
ment with business have inspired confidence in 
the Administration and disarmed those who have 
been wont to " indict a whole party" for cherish- 
ing destructive purposes. The great commercial 







L. Q. C. LAMAR, 



THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. I 79 

centres of the land have been quick to respond 
to every occasion with expressions of their con- 
fidence In the President and his party. The 
Democracy enters upon the Presidential cam- 
paign of 1888 without any of the distrust attaching 
to it as an organization by which so many of the 
independent voters in former years seem to have 
been affected ; and every promise is given in the 
situation, as it stands, of accessions to the sup- 
port of Cleveland and Thurman from elements 
which have hitherto withheld themselves from the 
Democracy, 



CHAPTER XII. 

COURTSHIP, MARRIAGE, AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 

WHILE there has never been any ten- 
dency hi the United States to imitate 
the court customs of European coun- 
tries, interest has always been strong in the 
domestic hfe of our pubhc men, and especially of 
those called to the Presidency. While the majority 
of these have been drawn from the average plain 
life of the plain people of the country, our history 
does not present a single case in which the men 
elected President, or who succeeded as Vice- 
Presidents, were not of gentlemanly social aspect, 
and their families, if they had them, did not do the 
honors of the White House with credit to them- 
selves and to their country. 

Only twice in the history of the country have 
our Presidents been bachelors, and, curiously 
enough, these were James Buchanan, the last 
Democratic President chosen before the fatal di- 
vision which sundered the party in i<S6o, and 
Grover Cleveland, the first with whom it was to 
regain power in 1884, after twenty-four years of 
exclusion. Jackson's wife died a few months be- 
fore his accession to of^ce, Tyler, Johnson, and 
180 



CO UR TSHIP AND MA RRIA GE. I § 1 

Arthur were widowers when they entered the 
White House from the Vice-Presidency in suc- 
cession to their superiors, who had died or had 
been assassinated in office. Tyler was the only 
one who had remarried while in office, though not 
in the White House itself. So that while there 
had been marrying and giving in marriage in the 
Executive residence, they had been of the sons 
and grandsons, or the daughters and grand- 
daughters, of Presidents or their friends, and not 
of the actual occupants of that historic mansion as 
the Chief Magistrates of the Union. 

When Grover Cleveland was elected President 
he had reached the somewhat mature age of 
forty-seven, and having thus far lived the life of a 
bachelor, he was, not unnaturally, looked upon as 
a confirmed specimen of this class of men, about 
whom their friends are always so deeply and so 
interestingly concerned. Nevertheless, the same 
universal interest attached itself to him and his 
social movements as if he had been a Benedict of 
many years experience. The new President's 
youngest sister. Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, was, 
like himself, unmarried. She was, therefore, 
naturally called to take the position of mistress 
of the White House, in which a vacancy had ex- 
isted for some time, because of the fact that Pres- 
ident Arthur had also been compelled to rely upon 
his sister, Mrs. McElroy, to fill this place. Miss 
Cleveland filled the duties of this somewhat diffi- 



lg2 LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

cult place with great tact and with general accept ^ 
ance. She was a cultured woman of the most de- 
cided opinions, whose experience as a teacher and 
writer had led her to rely upon herself in the race of 
life. But almost from the beginning it was consid- 
ered, although the President had never given 
any indication that he was a marrying man, he had 
certainly not passed *' the marrying age," that some- 
what movable quality which nobody has ever yet 
been able to define with accuracy and acceptation. 
It soon beean to be noised about that the Pres- 
ident had entered upon a career of love-making, 
and it was not long before he blushingly and bash- 
fully admitted the impeachment. From that time 
public interest, on the old principle enunciated 
by Emerson, that " all the world loves a lover," 
was concentrated upon the domestic affairs and 
advantages of the man who occupied such an ex- 
alted position. He did not appear to cease from 
filing vetoes of bad measures, nor from putting 
an occasional political opponent out and a political 
supporter into a desirable office, which had some- 
thing to do with fixing political responsibility upon 
his administration. Nor did he seem to lose any 
sleep, as it is sometimes alleged that lovers of the 
masculine persuasion are wont to do. He did 
nothing foolish or gushing, as no doubt many 
other accepted lovers of both sexes expected him 
to do ; but in the meantime preparations proceeded 
for the wedding. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 



^^z 



The gossips were not given much of a chance 
to suggest doubts as to the name and personaHty 
of the woman who was to become a bride in the 
White House. Miss Frances Folsom, the only 
child and daughter of Oscar Folsom, was an- 
nounced as the young woman who had accepted 
the suit of the President of the United States. 
She had been a friend and intimate of her future 
husband from the earliest years of her childhood. 
Her father was a partner in the practice of his 
profession and a close personal friend and ad- 
viser. He had been killed in an accident with a 
runaway horse in the year 1875, just as his powers 
were at their ripest and his prospects of the best. 
He was a man of genial good nature, generous 
and open-hearted in his impulses and his life, and 
a devoted husband and father. 

Miss Frances Folsom, called " Frank " before 
her marriage, was born in Buffalo, New York, 
July 2 1 St, 1864. As a child she attended the French 
Kindergarten of Mme. Brecker, and the quickness 
of apprehension which she then displayed received 
a fuller exemplification when, upon the return of 
the family to Buffalo, she entered the Central 
School, and almost immediately became the pro- 
nounced favorite of both teachers and her fellow- 
pupils. wShe threw her energies into her studies 
in a way which augured well for her future success 
in whatever field she should elect to occupy, and 
earnest application ioined with natural ability to 



i84 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



develop character and instill culture. At this 
period Mrs. Folsom boarded in the city of Buffalo, 
and the daughter availed herself of her Central 
School certificate, which admitted her to the 
sophomore class at Wells College without prelimi- 
nary examination. Here again she became a 
prime favorite, and It was during her sojourn at 
this institution that the flowers sent her from 
Albany, and the many evidences of regard which 
the Governor bestowed, began to cause a whisper 
that his attachment amounted to something more 
than mere friendly kindliness. The whisper grew 
into a much more definite utterance when Miss 
Folsom was graduated and was the recipient of 
beautiful floral tributes from the White House 
conservatories. Governor Cleveland had become 
President of the United States, and the fact that 
he was a bachelor, coupled with the other fact that 
his exalted position kept him ever in the bright 
light of public scrutiny, conspired to set many 
tongues wagging as to the possible outcome of 
his acquaintance with the fair graduate, who, In 
June, 1885, said farewell to Alma Mater 2.x\A^^ViX. 
tospend the summer, or apart of it, at the residence 
of her grandfather, the late Colonel John B. Fol- 
som, of Folsomdale, Wyoming County, N. Y., two 
miles out of Cowlesvllle. The old place Is a typi- 
cal homestead, possessing all the homely charac- 
teristics of farm-life combined with much of solid 
comfort and refinement. 




BRIDE OF THE WHITE HOUSE. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE. 



187 



Exactly what understanding existed between 
the President and Miss Folsom at the time she 
went abroad may not be definitely known outside 
of the circle immediately interested, but it is 
likely they were betrothed ere her departure. 
Both parties maintained a guarded silence, and 
their engagement escaped parade in the news- 
papers until a date near the time fixed for the 
weddlnfy. 

Little was heard from Miss Folsom until, on 
the 27th of May, 1886, the Red ^tar steamer 
Noordland, from Antwerp, sailed into the port of 
New York, having just transferred to a United 
States revenue cutter Miss Folsom, her mother, 
and her cousin, Mr. Benjamin Folsom. The 
party came comparatively unannounced. Colonel 
Lamont was present as the President's represen- 
tative. At the pier the bride -elect was welcomed 
by Miss Cleveland, and the party was speedily 
installed at the Gilsey House, where the ladles 
of the Cabinet joined in a reception and kindly 
welcome to the modest and beautiful young 
woman who was soon to make such a stir in 
American society. On Sunday, May 30th, the 
President visited his betrothed in New York. 

Miss Folsom kept herself secluded during her 
stay in the metropolis, but as the wedding-day 
had been fixed for the 2d of June, there was much 
social sensation over the event. A wedding in 
the White House was decided upon, and elab- 



jgg LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

orate preparations were set on foot. The Execu* 
tive Mansion became a scene of hasty labors on 
the part of upholsterers, decorators, and florists; 
there were crowds of callers, most of whom were 
unsuccessful in seeing the President, who escaped 
much annoyance by driving out to his country 
place, *' Pretty Prospect," and turning his visitors 
over to the tender mercies of the doorkeepers. 

By Wednesday, June 2d, the Blue Room, in 
which the ceremony was to take place, had been 
converted into a bower of loveliness. The south 
side was a solid bank of dark-Q^reen foliaore, against 
which stood out the red and pink and white of 
azaleas and camelias. The fire-places were filled 
with potted plants, while the mantels were nearly 
concealed beneath banks of flowers. The east 
mantel was covered with purple pansies, bor- 
dered with allneof yellow, and fringed with ferns. 
On this purple bed appeared the inscription, 
"June 2d, 1886," in white pansies. On the west 
mantel was a bank of crimson roses, bordered 
with maiden's-hair fern, and bearing the monogram 
"C. F." in w^hlte moss roses. The mirrors were 
bordered by parti-colored garlands composed of 
roses and other rare flowers. Great palms stood 
on either side of the doorway leading to the main 
hall, and a scroll, composed of pinks and bearing 
the national motto, '* E Fluribus Unum'' was 
fixed immediately above the centre doorway. 

The East Parlor was decorated differently. 



COURTSHIP AA'D MARRIAGE. 189 

but with like elegance and taste ; there were 
fewer flowers, but the display of foliage, especially 
rare palms, was exceedingly fine. The Green 
Parlor was comparatively devoid of ornament, 
but the decoration there was in excellent taste 
and in pleasing contrast widi the greater elabora- 
tion bestowed upon the odier. apartments. In 
die dinin<^'--room the ornamentation was in general 
similar to" that of the East Parlor. Potted plants, 
arran-ed in pyramids, filled the corners, and roses 
festooned the mirrors. The sideboards were 
covered widi rare plants, and a floral piece m the 
centre of the table represented a ship under full 
sail, die national colors flying from her mast-head, 
with a peiinant bearing the monogram " C. F." 

It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening when 
the wedding guests assembled in the Blue Room. 
Owincr to die President's desire that die affair 
should be as private as possible, the Diplomadc 
Corps had not been invited, and tlie tollowing 
o-uests were the only persons present: Mrs. 
Folsom, the mother of the bride; Rev. W. N. 
Cleveland, the President's brother ; Mrs. Hoyt 
and Miss Cleveland, the President's sisters ; Mr. 
Bayard, Secretary of State; Mr. Manning, Secre= 
taryof the Treasury, with Mrs.'Mannmg; Mr. 
Endicott, Secretary of War, with Mrs. Endicott; 
Mr. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, with Mrs. 
Whitney; Mr. Vilas, Postmaster-General, with 
Mrs. Vilas ; Mr. Lamar, Secretary of die Interior; 



TQO LIFE OF CROIFR CLEl'lAXD. 

Colonel Lamont, Private Secretary, with Mrs. 
Lamont; Benjamin Folsom, Esq. ; Mr. and Mrs. 
Rogers, of Seneca Falls, N. Y. ; Mrs. Cadmaii 
and Miss Huddleston, of Detroit ; Mr. and Mrs. 
Harmon, of Boston ; Miss Nelson, of New York ; 
W. S. Bissell, Esq , of Buffalo, and Rev. Dr. and 
Mrs. Byron Sunderland. The Attorney-General, 
though invited, was not present, being disinclined 
to society. 

The guests placed themselves In the form of a 
semicircle, Mr. Bayard being at the extreme left 
and Rev. Mr. Cleveland at the extreme right. 

The Marine Band, stationed In the anteroom, 
played the w^edding march of Mendelssohn, as 
Rev. Dr. Sunderland took his position at the 
south end of the room, and Immediately after the 
bridal party entered. Miss Folsom leaned upon 
the President's arm, looking exceedingly pretty In 
her wedding dress of cream white satin, with high, 
plain corsage, elbow iileeves, and very long train. 
The front breadth just below^ the w^alst was draped 
from side to side with soft silk India muslin, at- 
tached on the left side, and nearly joining the 
court train. The muslin was bordered with a 
narrow band of oranoe flowers and leaves that 
outlined the draping. The train, which w^as at- 
tached to the plain bodice just below the w-alst, 
measured over four yards in length, was slightly 
rounded, and fell in full plaits on the floor, with no 
trimmlnir but It;: own richness. Tvv^o scarfs of the 



CO OR TSUI P AXi) MARRiAGit. 



19. 



muslin, starting from the shoulder seams, crossed 
the bosom in Grecian folds and were bordered 
with a narrow band of orange flowers to corres- 
pond with the skirt. The scarfs disappeared 
under a girdle of satin, crossing the bodice from 
left to right. The sleeves were trimmed with folds 
of the mull and two or three orange buds and 
blossoms. The tulle veil, six yards in length, was 
fastened with a coronet of myrtle and orange 
blossoms above the high coiffure, its folds lightly 
covering the entire train. The general effect was 
that of exquisite simplicity, suited to the beauty 
of the bride. She wore no jewelry and carried 
no hand-bouquet, but lightly held a beautiful white 
fan. The President wore full evenine dress, and 
their b'^ring was dignified and impressive. They 
were followed by the few guests who were closely 
related to the cpntracting parties, and as soon as 
the usual hush had fallen upon the assemblage 
Dr. Sunderland offered prayer and followed it 
with the impressive marriage ceremony, the bride 
and groom making response in clear tones. The 
ring was then passed and placed upon the bride's 
finger, and the two were pronounced man and 
wife. The benediction was spoken by Rev. Mr. 
Cleveland. The ceremony occupied ten minutes. 
Rev. Mr. Cleveland came forward first to offer his 
congratulations, and kissed the bride. Upon 
Colonel Lamont's invitation the quests then en- 
tered the dinino-room, where a collation was 



194 LJFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

served. Very elegant white satin boxes contain- 
ing pieces of the wedding cake were distributed 
as souvenirs, th.e date, June 2d, 1886, being em- 
broidered in colors on the covers. 

Within an hour the President and his wife were 
on their way to the station of the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railway to start for Deer Park, l\Td., where 
the honeymoon was passed. The time from the 
3d until the 8th of June was spent at this pretty 
resort on the summit of the Alleghenies. On the 
8th the couple returned to Washington and to 
life in the White House. 

One week later, on Tuesday, June 15th, the 
first State reception of the President and Mrs. 
Cleveland took place ; and it was the beginning 
of a series of social engagements, which fully tested 
the ability of the }'oung mistress of the White 
House to do tl.e arduous duties of her new 
place. Amid blazing lights and bloomincr flowers, 
to the soft music of orchestra and all the elegant 
accompaniments of society entertainments. Cabi- 
net and diplomatic corps, judiciary, Congress, 
army and navy, the most distinguished men and 
a great array of beautiful and critical women 
were received by the winsome bride and her hus- 
band. Popular receptions followed, when the 
great crowds poured through the White House 
in democratic fasliion and greeted her whom all 
were willing to own the first lady of the land ; 
dinners of state and society dinners followed; 



CO UR 7 :• //// ' A.\ -J) MA K R J A CE. 



197 



guests were entertained at the White House, and 
its spacious chambers and hospitable board week 
after week welcomed the highest society of the 
capital and of the country at large ; the Cabinet 
ministers and their wives entertained the Presi- 
dential couple, and a season of such social bril- 
liancy was ushered in as Washington had never 
known. In every position and under all circum- 
stances Mrs. Cleveland proved herself a woman 
ot as noble mind as she was acknowledged to be 
of eminent personal beauty and graceful accom- 
plishments. Her courtesy and tact won the hearts 
of men and disarmed the criticism of women. A 
stranger to Washington society, she captivated it 
from the start, and her reign has never ceased 
nor has the Influence of her charms waned. 

In appearance, Mrs. Cleveland is tall and grace- 
ful, with soft, dark-brown hair worn loosely drawn 
back from the forehead. Her eyes are violet 
blue, her nose rather large and prominent ; her 
mouth is mobile and of singular beauty, and a dis- 
tinct Individuality Is Imparted to the face by heavy 
eyebrows which nearly meet. 

Mrs, Cleveland has, since her marriage, become 
the most popular, as she Is certinnly the best- 
known woman, in die United States. In all the 
varied domestic, social, and semi-political duties 
which devolve upon one placed in her position, 
she has never failed to show the Instincts, the 
training, and the qualities which especially fitted 



198 



LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND, 



her for her rank and position. There has never 
been any desire for display. She has gone freely 
into society with the President and on her own 
account wherever she has been, but this has 
always been* done with a modesty and a woman- 
liness which do herself, her sex, and the country 
infinite credit. She has traveled much, generally 
with the President, in his summer jaunts to the 
Adirundacks and on his revisits to his childhood 
honie in Central New York, on his trips to 
Harvard Collef^e, throuorhout the West and South, 
tothe Constitutional Centennial Celebration at Phil- 
adelphia, to the joint meeting of the Presbyterian 
General Assemblies of the Northern and Southern 
Churches at Philadelphia, and upon almost every 
other visit of importance which he has made to 
different cities, or to meetlncrs of orcranizations of 
one kind or anotlier. She Is always willing to 
lend her presence to assemblies or meetings for 
religious or moral objects, so that she has shown 
a wnlllingness and a determination to do her duty 
in the station to which she has been ten-iporariiy 
called. In every way she has proved herself an 
efficient helpmeet, and remains now what she 
became upon her marriage in June, 1886, a faithful 
wife of an x^merlcan citizen, called by the will of 
the people of his country to Its highest office. 
Occupying such a position, and doing her duty thus 
faithfully, it is not surprising that she has gained 
\ popularity quite as universal as was ever ac- 




THE STATE DINING ROOM. 




THE EAST ROOM. 



CO UR TSHIP AND MARRIA GE. 2 O T 

corded to any mistress of the White House ; and 
our social history has never been illustrated by 
a better example of the true American o-Irl, trrow- 
Ing- at a sini^lc step Into the highest type of Amer- 
ican womanhood, measuring up to its most sacred 
duties, and realizing the consecrated joys of our 
purest domestic life. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE president's TOURS THROUGH THE COUNTRY 

TRIP TO RICHMOND VISIT TO HARVARD COLLEGE 

THE GARFIELD ORATION THE CLINTON CENTEN- 
NIAL. 

ONE of the most forciUe and effective argu- 
ments used against the election of 
Cleveland in 1884 was his lack of ac- 
quaintance with the country at large — his little ex- 
perience in meeting with the people of the dif- 
ferent sections, his want of sympathy with the 
varied elements which make the composite citizen- 
ship and the vast material greatness of a nation 
of thirtv-eieht States and of mao^nlficent territorial 
possessions. Devoted to his official duties and 
the arduous concerns of a law practice circum- 
scribed by the boundaries of his own State, he 
had before his inauguration visited Washington 
but once, a casual and unnoticed visitor. He knew 
nothing by personal observation of the great 
physical resources of the rich empire of Pennsyl- 
vania, with its mountains of mineral wealth, its 
blooming fields of agricultural development, Its 
blazing coke ovens, and the rich yielding oil and 
gas fields. To the academic halls of New Eng- 
land he was a like stranger. In the South, whose 
plantations were just recovering from the wasting 
202 



THE PRESIDENTS TOURS. HO% 

ravages of war, he had never visited a single 
State. Nor had he ever stood in the busy marts 
of the Great West, each striving for supremacy 
of trade. In that magnificent domain of the 
Mississippi Valley, mostly gained for the country 
by the foresight of the first Democratic President, 
toward the middle of which the centre of popu- 
lation has been with each decennial census 
steadily pressing forward, the foot of the twenty- 
second President had never trod. A natural 
sympathy with the sovereign people — whose ser- 
vant and not their ruler he always avowed him- 
self — and a willingness to gratify the unceasing 
demand that he should come among them, im- 
pelled Mr. Cleveland to arrange a series of visits 
to the different parts of the country. He aimed 
only at those which could be reached without any 
serious Interruption of his official duties and in a 
manner that added to and did not detract from 
the invariable dignity which attended his exercise 
of the magisterial functions. During a part of the 
summer of 1886, in that heated term when life is 
rendered uncomfortable In the capital, when Con- 
gressional proceedings are ended and department 
work limited to the merest routine, he betook him- 
self with his bride to the cool fastnesses and the 
fishine erounds of the AdIrondacks. Thither this 
narrative need not follow him, though wherever 
they went they were the cynosure of public at- 
tention and the object of journalisdc enterprise, H 
not of occasional imj)ertinence. 



i04 ^^-^^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

On October 21st, J 886, the President, accom- 
panied by Secretaries Bayard, Endicott, and Vilas, 
for the first time visited Richmond, the capital of 
the "Old Dominion" State, and in historic import- 
ance the first city of the South. All along the 
way to his destination and upon his arrival there 
he was greeted with enthusiastic demonstrations, 
and with the courtesy characteristic of a hospit- 
able and well-bred people. He was welcomed by 
Governor Fitz Hugh Lee in a speech of friendly 
salutation, and upon the grounds of the State 
Fair Mr. Cleveland made felicitous reply. After 
recountine the historic achievements of Viroinia 
he said : 

" In our sisterhood of States the leading and 
most commanding place must be gained and kept 
by that Commonwealth which by the labor and in- 
telligence of her citizens can produce most of 
those thinofs which meet the necessities and de- 
sires of mankind. But the full aavantacre of that 
which may be yielded a State by the toil and 
ingenuity of her people is not measured alone by 
the money value of the product. The efforts and 
the struggles of her farmers and her artisans not 
only create new values in the field of agriculture 
and in the arts and manufactures, but they at the 
same time produce rugged, self-reliant, and inde- 
pendent men, and cultivate that product which 
more than all others ennobles a State — a patriotic, 
earnest American citizenship. 

"This will flourish in every part of the Ameri- 
can domain ; neither drought nor rain can injure 
it, for it takes root in true hearts enriched by love 



THE PRESIDENTS TOURS. 205 

of country. There are no new varieties in this 
production ; it must be the same wherever seen, 
and its quaHty is neither sound nor genuine unless 
it grows to deck and beautify an entire and united 
nation, nor unless it support and sustain the in- 
stitutions and the Government founded to protect 
American liberty and happiness. 

" The present Administration of the Government 
is pledged to return for such husbandry not only 
promises but actual tenders of fairness and justice, 
with equal protection and a full participation in 
national achievements. 

"If in the past we have been estranged, and 
the cultivation of American citizenship has been 
interrupted, your enthusiastic welcome of to-day 
demonstrates that there is an end of such estrange- 
ment, and that the time of suspicion and fear is 
succeeded by an era of faith and confidence. 

" In such a kindly atmosphere and beneath such 
cheering skies I greet the people of Virginia as 
co-laborers in the field where erows the love of 
our united country. 

" God grant that in the years to come' Virginia, 
the Old Dominion, the Mother of Presidents, she 
who looked upon the nation at its birih, may not 
only increase her trophies of growth in agricul- 
ture and manufactures, but that she may be 
among the first of all the States in the cultivation 
of true American citizenship." 

AT THE HARVARD CELEBRATION. 

In November, 1886, Harvard College, the old- 
est and most famous seat of the hiorher learninor 
in America, celebrated with fit ceremony the two 



506 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND, 

hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its founding. 
Among those upon whom it would have conferred 
the degree of LL. D. was the President, but he 
dedined it. Accompanied by Mrs. Cleveland 
and a number of the members of his official staff, 
he visited Boston and Cambridge upon this occa- 
sion. They were welcomed to the metropolis of 
New England by the Governor of its principal 
Commonwealth and a brilliant street pageant. 
In the halls of learning at Cambridge they lis- 
tened to the poem by that most honored of Ameri- 
can men of letters, Oliver Wendell Holmes; and 
the splendid oration of his co-worker, w^ho has 
helped so signally to give American literature 
its due recognition the world over, James Rus- 
sell Lowell, concluded with this fine tribute to 
the Chief Magistrate of sixty millions of free 
people : 

" Brethren of the Alumni, it now becomes my 
duty to welcome in your name the guests who 
have come, some of them so far, to share our 
congratulations and hopes to-day. I cannot name 
them all and give to each his fitting phrase. ^' ''-' '^' 
There is also one other name of which it would 
be indecorous not to make an exception. You 
all know that I can mean only the President of 
our Republic. His presence is a signal honor to 
us all, and to us all I may say a personal gratifi- 
cation. We have no politics here, but the sons of 
Harvard all belong to the party which admires 
courage, strength of purpose, and fidelity to dut)^, 



THE PRESIDENTS TOURS. 20^ 

and which respects, wherever he may be found 

the 

^Justum ac tenacem propositi viruitt' 

who knows how to withstand 

^Civiiim ardor p7'ava jubentit/m.'' 

He has left the helm of State to be with us here, 
and so long as it is intrusted to his hands we are 
sure that, should the storm come, he will say with 
Seneca's Pilot, *0 Neptune! you may save me if 
you will; you may sink me if you will; but what- 
ever happen, I shall keep my rudder true; " 

At the Alumni banquet, where ex-Attorney^ 
General Charles Devens presided, Mr. Cleveland 
made the following address : 

"Mr. President and Gentlemen: 

" I find myself to-day in a company to which 1 
am much unused, and when I see the alumni of 
the oldest college in the land surrounding in 
their right of sonship the maternal board at 
which l"am but an invited guest, the reflection 
that for me there exists no alma mater gives rise 
to a feeling of regret which is kindly tempered 
only by the cordiality of your welcome and your 
reassuring kindness. If the fact is recalled that 
only twelve of my twenty-one predecessors in 
office had the advantage of a collegiate or uni- 
versity education, proof is presented of the 
democratic sense of our people rather than an 
argument against the supreme value of the best 
and most liberal education in high public position. 
There certainly can be no sufficient reason for 



^0§ ^/^-^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

any space or distance between the walks of the 
most classical education and the way that leads 
to political place. Any disinclination on the part 
of the most learned and cultured of our citizens to 
mingle in public affairs, and the consequent aban- 
donment of political activity to those who have 
but little regard for the student and scholar in 
politics, are not favorable conditions under a 
government such as ours, and if they have existed 
to a damaging extent very recent events appear 
to indicate that education and conservatism of the 
land are to be hereafter more plainly heard in ex- 
pression of the popular will. Surely the splendid 
destiny which awaits patriotic effort in behalf of 
our country will be sooner reached if the best of 
our thinkers and educated men shall deem it a 
solemn duty of citizenship to actively and practi- 
cally engage in political affairs, and if the force and 
power of their thought and learning shall be 
willingly or unwillingly acknowledged in party 
management. If I am to speak of the President 
of the United States,' I desire to mention the 
most pleasant and characteristic feature of our 
system of government, the nearness of the 
people to their President and other high officials. 
The close view afforded our citizens of the acts 
and conduct of those to whom they have in- 
trusted their interests serves as a reeulator and 
check upon the temptation and pressure of office, 
and is a constant reminder that diligence and 
faithfulness are the measure of public duty, and 
such relations between the President and people 
ought to leave but little room in the popular 
judgment and conscience for unjust and false 
accusations, and for malicious slanders invented 



THE PRESIDENTS TOURS. iO^ 

for the purpose of undermining the people's trust 
and confidence in the administration of their gov- 
ernment. No pubHc officer should desire to check 
the utmost freedom of criticism as to all official 
acts, but every right-thinking man must concede 
that the President of the United States should not 
be put beyond the protection which America's 
love of fair play and decency accords to every 
American citizen. 

" This trait of our national character would not 
encourage, if their extent and tendency were 
fully appreciated, the silly, mean, and cowardly 
lies that every day are iound in the columns of 
certain newspapers which violate every instinct of 
American manliness, and in ghoulish glee dese- 
crate every sacred relation of private life. There 
is nothinor in the hiehest office that the American 
people can confer which necessarily makes their 
President altogether selfish, scheming, and un- 
trustworthy. On the contrary, the solemn duties 
which confront him tending to a sober sense of the 
responsibility, trust of the American people and 
appreciation of their mission among nations of 
the earth, should make him a patriotic man, and 
tales of distress w^hich reach him from the hum- 
ble and lowly and needy and afflicted in every 
corner of the land cannot fail to quicken within 
him every kind impulse and tender sensibility. 
After all it comes to this. The people of the 
United States have one and all a sacred mission 
to perform, and your President, not more surely 
than any other citizen who loves his country, must 
assume a part of the responsibility of demonstrat- 
ing to the world the success of popular govern- 
ment. No man can hide his talent in a napkin 



210 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

and escape condemnation. His slothfulness de- 
serves not to evade the stern sentence which his 
faithlessness invites. 

" Be assured, my friends, that the privileges of 
this day, so full of improvement and enjoym^ents, 
of this hour, so full of pleasure and cheerful en- 
couragements, will never be forgotten, and in 
parting with you now let me express an earnest 
hope that Harvard's Alumni may always honor 
the venerable institution which has honored them, 
and that no man who forgets or neglects his duty 
to American citizenship shall find his Alma Mater 
here." 

The stamp of thorough appreciation of high 
culture upon this address ; its graceful recognition 
of the uses of the higher education, and its dig- 
nified apology for his own deficiencies, won for its 
author approval and commendation in quarters 
where just recognition of his intellectual qualities 
had hitherto been withheld. If the single discor- 
dant note, which detracted somewhat from the art 
of this otherwise masterful speech, excited slight 
resentment, it was universally conceded that the 
President was smarting under deep provocation, 
and spoke with a warmth that was justified by 
every manly impulse. Mankind thinks none the 
less of the impetuous disciple, Simon Peter, be- 
cause he cut off the servant's ear. 

After the college festivities there was accorded 
to liim a popular reception at Faneuil Hall and at 
the hotel, and in the evening the University 
students had a great procession. 



THE PRESIDEN7 'S TO I T^S. 2 I 1 

THE GARFIELD ORATION. 

Another felicitous address of Mr. Cleveland 
was that delivered at the dedication of the monu- 
ment to President Garfield, erected by the Society 
of the Army of the Cumberland, at the foot of 
the Capitol grounds, on May 12th, 1887. After 
the oration by J. Warren Keifer and other exer- 
cises, the President said : 

" Fellow- Citizens : 

" In performance of the duty assigned to me on 
this occasion, I hereby accept, on behalf of the 
people of the United States, this completed and 
beautiful statue. 

''Amid the interchanee of fraternal ereetines be- 
tween the survivors of the Army of the Cumber- 
land and their former foes upon the batdefield, 
and while the Union General and the people's 
President awaited burial, the common erief of 
these maofnanimous soldiers and mourning citizens 
found expression in the determination to erect 
this tribute to American greatness ; and thus to- 
day in its symmetry and beauty, it presents a sign 
of animosities forgotten, an emblem of a broiher- 
hood redeemed, and a token of a nation restored. 

" Monuments and statues multiply throughout 
the land, fittingly illustrative of the love and affec- 
tion of our grateful people and commemorating 
brave and patriotic sacrifices In war, fame in 
peaceful pursuits, or honor In public station. 

'''But from this day forth, there shall stand at our 
seat of Government this statue of a distinguished 
citizen, who in his life and services combined all 



212 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

those thincrs and more, which challenee admira- 
tion in American character — lovinor tenderness in 
every domestic relation, bravery on the field of 
battle, fame and distinction in our halls of legis- 
lation, and the highest honor and dignity in the 
Chief Magistracy of the nation. 

'' This stately effigy shall not fail to teach every 
beholder that the source of American greatness 
is confined to no condition, nor dependent alone 
for its growth and development upon favorable 
surroundings. The genius of our national life 
beckons to usefulness and honor those in every 
sphere, and offers the highest preferment to manly 
ambition and sturdy, honest effort chastened and 
consecrated by patriotic hopes and aspirations. 
As long as this statue stands, let it be proudly re- 
membered that to every American citizen the way 
is open to fame and station, until he — 

*• ' Moving up from high to higher, 

Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope 
The pillar of a People's hope, 
The centre of a World's desire.' 

"Nor can we foro^et that it also teaches our 
people a sad and distressing lesson; and the 
thoughtful citizen who views its fair proportions 
cannot fail to recall the tragedy of a death which 
brought grief and mourning to every houshold in 
the land. But while American citizenship stands 
aghast and affrighted that murder and assassina- 
tion should lurk in the midst of a free people 
and strike down the head of their Government, a 
fearless search and the discovery of the origin and 
hiding-place of these hateful and unnatural things, 
should be followed by a solemn resolve to purge 
forever from our political methods and from the 



THE PRESIDENT'S TOURS. 213 

operation of our Government, the perversions and 
misconceptions which give birth to passionate and 
bloody thoughts. 

" If from this hour our admiration for the 
bravery and nobihty of American manhood and 
our faith in the possibiHties and opportunities of 
American citizenship be renewed, if our apprecia- 
tion of the blessing of a restored Union and love 
for our Government be strengthened, and if our 
watchfulness against the dangers of a mad^ chase 
after partisan spoils be quickened, the dedication 
of this statue to the people of the United States 
will not be in vain." 



AMID THE ASSOCIATIONS OF HIS YOUTH. 

In May, iSB;, the short term of the Forty-ninth 
Congress having terminated March 4th, President 
and Mrs. Cleveland set out for the Adirondacks, 
and spent the greater part of the month of June 
at Upper Saranac Lake and other points of inter> 
est In that attractive region. After a return to 
Washington and official duties, Mr. Cleveland re- 
joined his wife about the middle of July, and with 
Secretary and Mrs. Fairchild and other friends 
they began a series of visits to points in Central 
and Western New York, which had been familiar 
to his boyhood associations and to which his re> 
turn at this time was of peculiar interest because 
of certain historical celebrations then In progress. 

At Fayetteville, N. Y., where he had lived 
eleven of the first fourteen years of his life, in 



214 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND, 

an address upon the village green to two thousand 
persons gathered to greet him, he spoke most 
tenderly and feelingly of the schoolmates and 
childhood pranks of his early days. At Holland 
Patent, on July 12th; at the Clinton Centennial, 
July 13th; at Forest Port, July 15th, where he re- 
ceived the citizens at the home of his brother, 
Rev. Wm. N. Cleveland, and at Cazenovia, July 
1 8th, where he was the guest of the Falrchild 
household, he was deeply touched by the gracious 
hospitality and fervent greeting of the family 
friends who had watched his sudden rise to ex- 
alted position and enlarged usefulness with pecu- 
liar local and personal pride. Of all the ad- 
dresses delivered upon this trip the most notable 
was that made at Clinton, than which none of his 
public utterances more clearly reveals the pro- 
found sentiment and domestic traits of the Presi- 
dent. He said: 

"I am by no means certain of my standing here 
among those who celebrate the centennial of 
Clinton's existence as a village. My recollections 
of the place reach backward but about thirty-six 
years, and my residence here covered a very brief 
period. But these recollections are fresh and 
distinct to-day, and pleasant, too, though not en- 
tirely free from sombre coloring. 

" It was here In the school, at the foot of 
College Hill, that I began my preparation for col- 



THE PRESIDENT'S TOURS. 21 5 

lege life and enjoyed the anticipation of a collegiate 
education. We had but two teachers in our school. 
One became afterward a judge in Chicago and the 
other passed through the legal profession to the 
ministry, and within the last two years was living 
further West. I read a little Latin with two other 
boys in the class. I think I floundered through 
four books of the ' ^neid.' The other boys had 
nice, large, modern editions of Virgil, with big 
print and plenty of notes to help one over the 
hard places. Mine was a little, old-fashioned copy, 
which my father used before me, with no notes, 
and which was only translated by hard knocks. I 
believe I have forgiven those other boys for their 
persistent refusal to allow me the use of the notes 
in their books. At any rate, they do not seem to 
have been overtaken by any dire retribution, for 
one of them is now a rich and prosperous lawyer 
in Buffalo, and the other is a professor In your 
college and the orator of to-day's celebration. 
The struggles with ten lines of Virgil, which at 
first made up my daily task, are amusing as re- 
membered now ; but with them I am also forced 
to remember that Instead of being the beginning 
of the higher education for which I honestly 
longed, they occurred near the end of my school 
advantages. This suggests a disappointment 
which no lapse of time can alleviate, and a de- 
privation I have sadly felt with every passing 
year. 



21 6 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

" I remember Benoni Butler and his store. I 
don't know whether he was an habitual poet or not, 
but I heard him recite one poem of his own man- 
ufacture which embodied an account of a travel 
to or from Clinton in the early days.. lean recall 
but two" lines of this poem, as follows : 

" ' Paris Hill next came in sight, 
And there we tarried over night.* 

" I remember the next-door neiohbors, Drs. 
Bissell and Scollard, and good, kind neighbors 
they were, too, not your cross, crabbed kind, who 
could not bear to see a boy about. It always 
seemed to me that they drove very fine horses ; 
and for that reason I thought they must be ex- 
tremely rich. 

" I don't know that I should indulge further rec- 
ollections that must seem very little like centen- 
nial history, but I want to establish as well as I 
can my right to be here. I might speak of the 
College Faculty, who cast such a pleasing though 
sober shade of dignity over the place, and who, 
with other educated and substantial citizens, made 
up the best of social life. I was a boy then, and 
slightly felt the atmosphere of this condition, but, 
notwithstanding, I believe I absorbed a lasting ap- 
preciation of the intelligence and refinement which 
made this a delightful home. 

" I know that you will bear with me, my friends, 
if I yield to the impulse which the mention of 



THE PRESIDENrS TOURS. 



217 



home creates and speak of my own home here, 
and how throuofhthe memories which chister about 
it I may claim a tender relationship to your vil- 
lage. Here it was that our family circle entire, 
parents and children, lived day after day in loving 
and affectionate converse, and here for the last 
time we met around the family altar and thanked 
God that oiir household was unbroken by death 
or separation. We never met together in any 
other home after leaving this, and death followed 
closely our departure. And thus it is that as with 
advancing years I survey the havoc death has 
made, and the thoughts of my early home become 
more sacred, the remembrance of this pleasant 
spot, so related, is revived and chastened. I can 
only add my thanks for the privilege of being 
with you to-day, and wish for the village of Cliuv 
ton in the future a continuation and increase -of 
the blessings of the past." 

THE CENTENNIAL AND THE CONSTITUTION. 

On September 15th, i6th, and 17th, 1887, ^he 
people of the country celebrated with a magnifi- 
cent pageant and eminently fit public exercises 
the centennial of the makinor of their Federal Con- 
stitutlon in Philadelphia. In that city, a hundred 
years before, had sat the Congress which fash- 
ioned this great charter, pronounced by Mr. Glad- 
stone to be " the most wonderful work ever struck 
off at a given time by the brain and purpose of 



2lS LIFE OF G ROVER CLE VELA XD. 

man." The first day's spectacle was an industrial 
parade, with twenty thousand men in line, and an 
almost endless train of devices to illustrate the 
progress of a hundred years in the arts and 
sciences. The President and his wife, with a party 
of Cabinet officers and other friends, reached the 
city on the evening of that day. Mr. Cleveland 
attended the reception of the Catholic Club to 
Cardinal Gibbons, and the reception to the visiting 
Governors of the States at the Academy of Fine 
Arts; next morninor he was welcomed to the Com- 
mercial Exchange, and made an address to the 
business men of Philadelphia, which was received 
with much favor ; later in the day, he reviewed 
the parade of twenty thousand soldiers, and in the 
eveninsf the President and Mrs. Cleveland re- 
ceived the people in the Academy of Music, where 
tea thousand persons paid their respects. The 
same evening, the President visited the dinner of 
the Clover Club, a Bohemian dinine organization, 
at whose board some of the most brilliant wits of 
the country are to be found, and he bravely held 
his own in light badinage and ready repartee. 
The literary and musical exercises were held Sat- 
urday, September 17th, 1887, in Independence 
Square, and, before the delivery of the oration 
by Justice Miller, of the United States Supreme 
Court, the President made the following address: 
'' I deem it a very great honor and pleasure to 
participate in these impressive exercises. Every 



THE PRESIDENT'S TOURS. 219 

American citizen should on this centennial day 
rejoice in his citizenship. He will not find the 
cause of his rejoicing in the antiquity of his 
country, for among the nations of the earth his 
stands with the youngest. He will not find it in 
the glitter and the pomp that bedeck a monarch 
and dazzle abject and servile subjects, for in this 
country the people themselves are the rulers. He 
will not find it in the story of bloody foreign con- 
quests, for his Government has been content to 
care for its own domain and people. He should 
rejoice because the work of framing our Constitu- 
tion was completed one hundred years ago to- 
day, and because when completed it established a 
free Government. He should rejoice because 
this Constitution and Government have survived 
with so many blessings and have demonstrated so 
fully the strength and value of popular rule. He 
should rejoice in the wondrous growth and 
achievements of the past one hundred years and 
also in the glorious promise of the Constitution 
through centuries to come. We shall fail to be 
duly thankful for all that was done for us one 
hundred years ago unless we realize the difficul- 
ties of the work then in hand, and the dangers 
avoided in the task of forming ' a more perfect 
Union ' between disjointed and inharmonious 
States, with interests and opinions radically diverse 
and stubbornly maintained. The perplexities of 
the Convention which undertook the labor of pre- 



220 LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAXD. 

paring our Constitution are apparent in these 
earnest words of one of the most illustrious of 
its members : ' The small progress we have made 
after four or five weeks of close attendan.ee and 
continued reasoning with each other, our different 
sentiments on almost every question — several of 
the last producing as many noes as yeas — is, 
methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection 
of the human understandinor. We indeed seem 

o 

to feel our want of political wisdom, since we have 
been running about in search of it. We have 
gone back to ancient history for models of gov- 
ernment and examined the different forms of 
those republics which, having been formed with 
the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer 
exist. In this situation of this assembly, groping 
as it were in the dark to find political truth, and 
scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, 
how has it happened, sir, that we have heretofore 
not once thought of humbly applying to the Father 
of Liorht to illuminate our understanding?' 

" And this wise man, proposing to his fellows 
that the aid and blessine of God should be in- 
voked in their extremity, declared : ' I have lived, 
sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more 
convincing proof I see of the truth that God gov- 
erns in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow can- 
not fall to the ground without His notice, is it 
probable that an empire can rise without His no- 
tice? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred 



THE PRESIDENTS TOURS. 12\ 

writings, that except the Lord build the house, 
they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe 
this, and I also believe that without His concur- 
ring aid we shall succeed in this political building 
no better than the building of Babylon. We shall 
be divided by our litde partial interests, our pro- 
jects shall be confounded, and we ourselves shall 
become a reproach and byword down to future 
ages ; and, what is worse, mankind may hereafter 
from this unfortunate instance despair of estab- 
lishing governments by human wisdom and leave 
it to chance, war, and conquest.' 

'' In the face of all discouragements the fathers 
of the Republic labored on for four weary, long 
months in alternate hope and fear, but always 
with rugged resolve, never faltering in a sturdy 
endeavor sanctified by a prophetic sense of the 
value to posterity of their success and always 
with unflinching faith in the principles which make 
the foundadon of a government by the people. 
At last their task was done. It is related that 
upon the back of the chair occupied by Washing- 
ton as President of the Convention a sun was 
painted, and that as the delegates were signing 
the completed Constitution one of them said : 'I 
have often and often, in the course of the session 
and in the solicitude of my hopes and fears as to 
its Issue, looked at that sun behind the President 
without being able to tell whether it was rising or 
setting. But now at length I know that it is a ris- 



222 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

ing and not a setting sun.' We stand to-day on the 
spot where this rising sun emerged from poHtical 
niehtand darkness, and in its own brigrht meridian 
hght we mark its glorious way. Clouds have 
sometimes obscured its rays and dreadful storms 
have made us fear, but God has held it on its 
course, and throuo-h its hfe-crivincr warmth has 
performed His latest miracle in the creation of 
this wondrous land and people. As we look 
down that past century to the origin of our Con- 
stitution ; as we contemplate its trials and its tri- 
umphs ; as we realize how completely the princi- 
ples upon which it is based have met every 
national peril and every national deed, how de- 
voutly should we confess with Franklin, ' God 
governs in the affairs of men,' and how solemn 
should be the reflection that to our hands is com- 
mitted this ark of the people's covenant, and that 
ours is the duty to shield it from impious hands. 
We receive it sealed with the tests of a century. 
It has been found sufficient in the past, and in all 
the future years it v/ill be found sufficient if the 
American people are true to their sacred trust. 

** Another centennial day will come, and millions 
yet unborn will inquire concerning our steward- 
ship and the safety of their Constitution. God 
grant that they may find it unimpaired ; and as we 
rejoice in the patriotism and devotion of those 
who lived a hundred years ago, so may others 
who follow us rejoice in our fidelity and in our 
jealous love for constitutional liberty." 



THE PRESIDENT'S TOURS. 223 

In the evening a great banquet was given 
jointly by the learned and scientific societies of 
Philadelphia in the Academy of Music. Six 
hundred of the most distino^uished men of the 
country sat down to it, and the President made 
another felicitous address, after having also, 
earlier in the evening, made a happy after- 
dinner speech at the quarterly feast of the 
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick. Philadelphia so- 
ciety, critical, exclusive, and intensely Republican, 
was stirred to its depths with enthusiasm for the 
President, and only divided the lavish honors paid 
him with his winsome and popular helpmeet. 

On October 28th, 1886. President Cleveland 
bore a conspicuous part in the ceremonies of un- 
veiling the Bartholdi Statue of " Liberty " on 
Bedloe Island in New York Harbor. This mae- 
nificent work was the grift to America of the 
sculptor and the French people ; the enterprise 
of the New York World secured the necessary 
fund to erect the pedestal. The dedication of it 
was the occasion of a great civic, military, and 
naval demonstration ; and Mr. Cleveland's brief 
address was graceful and appropriate. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE TOUR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. 

THE greatest popular ovation and personal 
triumph awaited his journey to the West, 
the Northwest, and the South. A hun- 
dred years before the chief executive of the Re- 
pubHc, the father of his country, had set the well- 
approved fashion of a President becoming per- 
sonally acquainted with the land whose affairs he 
is expected to administer. In 1791 Washington 
visited New Enijland and went as far south as 
Augusta, Ga., traveling one thousand seven hun- 
dred miles in sixty-six days. 

On the morning of September 30th, 1 887, a train 
of three magnificently appointed Pullman palace 
cars, furnished with all the appliances and comforts 
of modern travel, drew out from the Baltimore and 
Potomac Station in Washinorton, bearinof the Presi- 
dent, his wife. Secretary Lamont and wife, and 
other political associates and personal friends, 
ladies and gentlemen, the party being some- 
what changed at different points of the route. At 
Baltimore, York, Harrisburg, Altoona, Pittsburgh, 
224 



TOUR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. 



227 



and other stopping places, great crowds of people 
thronged the railway stations and gave vent to 
their enthusiasm by every conceivable variety of 
demonstration. 

Beyond Pittsburgh the shooting of a gas well, 
especially arranged for the Presidential party by 
Mr. James M. Guffey, was a novel spectacle, illus- 
trative of the peculiar natural features and mar- 
velous resource^ of Western Pennsylvania. The 
State of Ohio was traversed at nighttime, and 
the first stop was made in Indianapolis. There a 
general decoration of the city, a great procession 
of people, booming cannon, pealing bells, and 
bands of music welcomed the distinguished party. 
In responding to Governor Gray's address the 
President paid a feeling tribute to Indiana's great 
statesman, who had been associated with him on 
the ticket in 1884, and Mrs. Hendricks entertained 
the visitors at lunch. Resuming their journey, the 
party reached St. Louis at midnight of the second 
and third days ; and attendance upon Divine 
worship on Sunday was followed next day with 
visits to the Fair, then in progress, receptions at 
the hands of the Commercial Exchanges, general 
assemblages of the people to do honor to their 
civil head, and the pomp of Immense parades. 

Chicago was reached on October 5th, and like 
scenes of popular enthusiasm were witnessed 
there. In a public address in that city the Presi- 
dent gave expression to his idea of the duty of 



2 28 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

the people in relation to the responsibilities o) 
their officials : 

" You have said the President ought to see 
Chicago. I am here to see it and its hospitable, 
large-hearted people. But because your city is so 
great, and your interests so large and important, 
I know you will allow me to suggest that I have 
left at home a city you ought to see and know 
more about. In point of fact, it would be well for 
you to keep your eyes closely upon it all the 
time. Your servants and agents are there. They 
are there to protect your interests and to aid 
your efforts to advance your prosperity and well- 
being. Your bustling trade, and your wearing, 
ceaseless activity of hand and brain, will not yield 
the results you deserve unless wisdom guides the 
policy of your Government, and unless your needs 
are regarded at the Capitol of the nation. It will 
be well for you not to forget that in the perform- 
ance of your political duties with calm thoughtful- 
ness and broad patriotism there lies not only a 
safecruard ao^ainst business disaster, but an im- 
portant obligation of citizenship." 

From Chicago the tourists went to Milwaukee, 
thence to Madison, where the Sabbath was quietly 
spent with the family of Postmaster-General Vilas. 
In a speech at the banquet given by the people of 
Milwaukee, Mr. Cleveland, speaking of the Pres- 
idency, used this language : 

'' And because it belongs to all the people, the 



TOUR 10 THE SOUTH AND WEST. 229 

obligation Is manifest on their part to maintain a 
constant and continuous watchfulness and interest 
concerning Its care and operation. Their duty is 
not entirely done when they have exercised their 
suffrage and indicated their choice of the incum- 
bent. Nor is their duty performed by settling- 
down to bitter, malignant, and senseless abuse of 
all that is done or attempted to be done by the 
incumbent selected. The acts of an Administra- 
tion should not be approved as a matter of course, 
and for no better reason than that it represents a 
political party. But more unpatriotic than all others 
are those who, having neither party discontent 
nor fair ground of criticism to excuse or justify 
their conduct, rail because of personal disappoint- 
ments, who misrepresent for sensational purposes, 
and who profess to see swift destruction in the 
rejection of their plans of governmental manage- 
ment. After all, we need have no fear that the 
American people will permit this high office to 
suffer. There is a patriotic sentiment abroad which, 
in the midst of all party feeling and all party dis- 
appointment, will assert Itself, and will insist that 
the office which stands for the people's will, shall, 
in all its vigor, minister to their prosperity and 
welfare." 

From Madison, by way of La Crosse, the Pres- 
idential company proceeded to St. Paul and Min- 
neapolis, the two marvelous cities of the great 
Northwest. To the people of St. Paul the Presi- 
dent pleasantly said : ": 



230 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND.' 

" My visit to 3^ou being a social one, and trusting 
that we have a sort of friendly feeling for each 
other, I want to suggest to you why I am particu- 
larly and personally interested in St. Paul and 
its people. Some years ago a young girl dwelt 
among you and went to school. She has grown 
up to be a woman, and is now my wife. If any 
one thinks a President ought not to mention things 
of this sort in public, I hope he or she does not 
live in St. Paul, for I do not want to shock any- 
body when I thank the good people of this city 
because they neither married nor spoiled my 
wife, and when I tell them they are related to that 
in my life better than all earthly honors and dis- 
tinctions. Hereafter, you may be sure that her 
pleasant recollections of her school days will be 
reinforced by the no less pleasant memory of our 
present visit, and thus will our present Interest in 
St. Paul and its kind citizens be increased and 
perpetuated." 

The train left Minneapolis for Omaha early on 
the morning of October 12th, and as progress 
westward was made the demonstrations of wel- 
come took on a more novel aspect. At Chaska 
tar barrels stacked hlcjh were burned, balloons 
set off, and brass bands drowned the locomotive 
whistle. At Sioux City baskets of flowers were 
showered upon the guests of the people ; and in 
Omaha a ereat concourse welcomed them. Thence 
the trip was directed to Kansas City, where a 




rX (.OVKkNoK CAMl'lJKI.L. 



TOUR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. 23 I 

longer stay had been arranged. While there the 
President laid the corner-stone of the new build- 
ing for the Young Men's Christian Association, 
and the following is an extract from his address 
upon that occasion : 

" In the busy activities of our daily life we are 
apt to neglect instrumentalities which are quietly 
but effectually doing most important service in 
molding our national character. Among these, 
and challenging but little notice compared with 
their valuable results, are the Youne Men's Chris- 
tian Associations scattered throughout the country. 
All will admit the supreme Importance oi that 
honesty and fixed principle which rest upon 
Christian motives and purposes, and all will ac- 
knowledge the sad and Increasing temptations 
which beset our young men and lure them to their 
destruction. 

"To save these young men, oftentimes de- 
prived of the restraints of home, from degrada- 
tion ind ruin, and to fit them for usefulness 
and honor, these associations have entered 
the field of Christian effort and are pushing 
their noble work. When it is considered that the 
objects of their efforts are to be the active men 
for good or evil in the next generation, mere 
human prudence dictates that these associations 
should be" aided and encouraged. Their increase 
and flourishing condition reflect the highest honor 
upon the good men who have devoted themselves 



232 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

to this work, and demonstrate that the American 
people are not entirely lacking in appreciation of 
its value. Twenty years ago but one of these 
associations owned a building, and that was valued 
at eleven thousand dollars. To-day more than 
one hundred such buildings, valued at more than 
five million dollars, beautify the different cities of 
our land and beckon our young men to lives of 
usefulness. 

" I am especially pleased to be able to participate 
to-day in laying the corner-stone of another of 
these edifices in this active and growing city ; and 
I trust that theencouracrement oriven the Youn^r 
Men's Christian Association located here may be 
commensurate with its assured usefulness and in 
keeping with the generosity and intelligence which 
are characteristic of the people of Kansas City." 

Turning southward from Kansas City, the next 
important stop was made at Memphis, Tenn. On 
the way thither, what might have proved a terri- 
ble disaster w^as averted by the providential dis- 
covery in good time that a trestle over which the 
train must pass had been fired. A sad accident 
which clouded the celebration at Memphis was the 
sudden death of Judge John T. Ellett, who expired 
on the platform just after the President had replied 
to the address of welcome delivered by Judge 
Ellett for his fellow-citizens. Sunday was spent 
at the beautiful Belle Meade farm of General W. 
H. Jackson, and on Monday, October 17th, Nash- 



TOUR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. 233 

ville and Chattanooga received the visitors with 
true Southern hospitahty. i\tlanta, Georgia, and 
Montgomery, Alabama, were reserved for the 
close of the tour, which had been from the begin- 
ning a perfect success, and was attended with such 
demonstrations of popular good feeling as no 
event since the close of the war had excited. At 
Montgomery, the President, his heart filled with 
joy at the sure signs he saw everywhere of a re- 
stored Union and a subsidence of sectionalism, 
said : 

"Your fellow-countrymen appreciate the value 
of intimate and profitable business relations with 
you, and there need be no fear that they will per- 
mit them to be destroyed or endangered by de- 
signing demagogues. The wickedness of those 
partisans who seek to aid their ambitious schemes 
by engendering hate among a generous people is 
fast meeting exposure ; and yet there is and should 
be an insistence upon a strict adherence to the 
settlement which has been made of disputed 
questions and upon the unreserved acceptance of 
such settlement. As against this I believe no 
business considerations should prevail, and I 
firmly believe that there is American fairness 
enough abroad in the land to insure a proper and 
substantial recotrnition of the o-ood faith which 
you have exhibited. We know that you still have 
problems to solve involving considerations con- 
cerning you alone^ questions beyond the reach of 



234 ^^^^ ^^ GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Federal law or Interference, and with which none 
but you should deal. I have no fear that you 
will fail to do your manful 3uty in these matters, 
but may I not, in the extension of the thoughts 
which I have before suggested, say to you that 
the educational advantages and the care which 
may be accorded to every class of your citizens 
have a relation to the general character of the 
entire country as intimate and potential as your 
production and the development of your mineral 
resources have to its material prosperity?" 

The tone of this address reflected the feelings 
awakened not only in the President, but in the 
minds of his fellow-countrymen, who were deeply 
impressed by the pervading and enthusiastic pa- 
triotism of a section so lately estranged ; and when 
Mr. Cleveland returned to Washincrton on Octo- 
ber 2 2d, his movements for the past three w^eeks 
had done much to strengthen the popular senti- 
ment in behalf of obliterating from American pol- 
itics the baleful issues of race and sectional strife. 

AT THE PRESBYTERIAN REUNION. 

On February 21st, 1888, the President and his 
wife, accompanied by some of his Cabinet, made a 
brief trip to a part of the South not visited before. 
They spent a day or two in Jacksonville, Florida, 
being received there and at all the stations on the 
way with extravagant outbursts of enthusiasm. 
Returning, a few days later, they were greeted in 



'^OVR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. :^35 

Charleston, S. C, with like cordiality and heart- 
iness. 

In May, 1888, thfe two General Assemblies 
of the Presbyterian Church, North and South, 
being then in session in Philadelphia and Balti- 
more, respectively, the notion was conceived by 
some of the good people desiring the closer 
union and the final reconciliation of these bodies 
to bring them into a social conference. Arrange- 
ments were made for public meetings and for the 
private entertainment of the delegates ; the Pres- 
ident, himself the son of a Presbyterian clergyman, 
was urgently invited to participate in the exer- 
cises, and he visited Philadelphia for that purpose. 

At a reception to the members of the two As- 
semblies, given by Mr. Wistar Morris at his home 
in Overbrook, a suburb of Philadelphia, on May 
2 1 St, the President spoke as follows : 

"I am very much gratified by the opportunity 
here afforded me to meet the representatives of 
the Presbyterian Church. 

"Surely a man never should lose his interest in 
the welfare of the Church in which he was reared ; 
and yet I will not find fault with any of you who 
deem ita sad confession made when I acknowledo-e 
that I must recall the days now long past to find 
my closest relations to the grand and noble de- 
nomination which you represent. I say this be- 
cause those of us who inherit fealty to our Church, 
as I did, begin early to learn those things which 



^^^ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

make us Presbyterians all the days of our lives ; 
and thus It Is that the riorors of our earliest teach- 
ing, by which we are grounded In our lasting 
allegiances, are especially vivid and perhaps the 
best remembered. The attendance upon church 
services three times each Sunday, and upon Sab- 
bath-school during noon Intermission, may be 
irksome enough to a boy of ten or tw^elve years 
of age to be well fixed In his memory ; but I have 
never known a man who regretted these things 
in the years of his maturity. The Shorter Cate- 
chism, though thoroughly studied and learned, 
was not, perhaps, at the time perfectly understood; 
and yet In the stern duties and labors of after life 
those are not apt to be the worst citizens who 
were early taught, ' What Is the chief end of 
man ?' 

'' Speaking of these things and In the presence 
of those here assembled, the most tender thoughts 
crowd upon my mind — all connected with Presby- 
terianism and Its teachings. There are present 
with me now memories of a kind and affectionate 
father, consecrated to the cause, and called to his 
rest and his reward In the midday of his useful- 
ness ; a sacred recollection of the prayers and 
pious love of a sainted mother and a family circle 
hallowed and sanctified by the spirit of Presbyte- 
rlanism. 

" I certainly cannot but express the wish and 
hope that the Presbyterian Church will always be 



TOUR TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. ^^"J 

at the front in every movement which promises 
the temporal as well as the spiritual advancement 
of mankind. In the turmoil and the bustle of 
every-day life few men are foolish enough to 
ignore the practical value to our people and our 
country of the church organizations established 
among us and the advantage of Christian exam- 
ple and teaching. 

" The field is vast and the work sufficient to en- 
gage the efforts of every sect and denomination ; 
but I am inclined to believe that the Church which 
is most tolerant and conservative without loss of 
spiritual strength will soonest find the way to the 
hearts and affections of the people. While we 
may be pardoned for insisting that our denomina- 
tion is the best, we may, I think, safely concede 
much that is ofood to all other Churches that seek 
to make men better. 

•* I am here to ereet the delegates of two Gen- 
eral Assemblies of the Presbyterian Church. One 
is called 'North' and the other 'South.' The subject 
is too deep and intricate for me, but I cannot help 
wondering why this should be. These words, so 
far -as they denote separation and estrangement, 
should be obsolete. In the counsels of the nation 
and in the business of the country they no longer 
mean reproach and antagonism. Even the sol- 
diers who foueht for the North and for the South 
are restored to fraternity and unity. This frater- 
nity and unity is taught and enjoined by our 



A^O LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Church. When shall she herself be united with 
all the added strength and usefulness that har- 
mony and union insure ?" 

TO THE CATHOLIC CLUB. 

The frankness and self-assertion of this expres- 
sion, coupled with a true spirit of religious tolera- 
tion, recall Mr. Cleveland's letter to the Catholic 
Club, of Philadelphia, to which, under date of 
February loth 1887, he wrote: 

" The thoughtfulness which prompted this invi- 
tation is gratefully appreciated, and I regret that 
my public duties here will prevent Its acceptance. 
I should be glad to join the contenlplated expres- 
sion of respect to be tendered to the distinguished 
head of the Catholic Church in the United States, 
whose personal acquaintance I very much enjoy, 
and who is so worthily entitled to the esteem of 
all his fellow-citizens. 

" I thank you for the admirable letter which ac- 
companied my invitation, in which you announce 
as one of the doctrines of your Club * that a good 
and exemplary Catholic must, ex necessitate rei, 
be a good and exemplary citizen,' and ' that the 
teachings of both human and divine law, thus 
merging In the one word duty, form the only 
union of Church and State that a civil and religious 
Government can recognize.' 

'' I know you will permit me as a Protestant to 
supplement this noble sentiment by the expres- 



TOUk TO THE SOUTH AND WEST. 239 

slon of my conviction that the same Influence and 
result follow a sincere and consistent devotion to 
the teachings of every religious creed which is 
based upon Divine sanction. A wholesome relig- 
ious faith thus inures to the perpetuity, the safety, 
and prosperity of our Republic, by exacting the 
due observance of civil law, the preservation of 
public order, and a proper regard for the rights 
of all ; and thus are its adherents better fitted for 
good citizenship and confirmed in a sure and 
steadfast patriotism. It seems to me, too, that 
the conception of duty to the State, which Is 
derived from religious precept, Involves a sense of 
personal responsibility which is of the greatest 
value In the operation of the Government by the 
people. It will be a fortunate day for our country 
when every citizen feels that he has an ever 
present duty to perform to the State which he 
cannot escape from or neglect without being false 
to his religious as well as his civil allegiance." 

VERSATILITY OF GENIUS. 

On June 27th, 1888, the President attended the 
commencement exercises of the University of 
Virginia, at Charlottesville, conferred the degrees 
upon the graduates, received many thousands of 
visitors, and responded to a sentiment at the 
alumni dinner, after which he visited the house 
and the grave of Jefferson, founder of the Univer- 
sity. 



^40 LiPE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

On July 3d, 1888, the German singing societies 
of the country, holding their national Saengerfest 
in Baltimore, Md., gave the President and his wife 
an urgent invitation to attend one of their grand 
concerts in the Academy of Music. The invita- 
tion was accepted, and the visit was the occasion 
of a magnificent ovation to the Presidential party, 
not only from his enthusiastic German admirers, 
but from the Democratic clubs of the country, 
then assembling in their great Fourth of July Con- 
vention. 

The foregoing narrative recalls visits of the 
President to every section of the country except- 
ing the Pacific slope and the extreme Southwest, 
touching three-fourths of the States and many of 
the chief cities; demandinor from him attention to 
the widest variety of interests, moral and material, 
anddrawingupon him for frequent public speeches. 
These many occasions found him ready, apt, and 
versatile ; and nothing could better illustrate the 
profound earnestness, the lofty patriotism and 
the keen intelligence of the President, than the 
elevated bearing and the easy yet dignified de- 
meanor which have marked his comminorlino- with 
his fellow-countrymen at their homes and amid 
their familiar associations. 



CHAPTER XV. 

EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER THE BATTLE-FLAG 

INCIDENT FRAUDULENT PENSION BILLS. 

ALTHOUGH the Constitution of the Uni- 
ted States requires the assent of the Pres- 
ident to every bill before it becomes a law, 
unless both Houses determine by a two-thirds 
aye-and-no vote to pass it over his veto, this 
power of disapproval has been, on the whole, 
sparingly used by the Executives of the United 
States. Until 1830 there were but nine vetoes — 
two by Washington, none by Adams, none by 
Jefferson, six by Madison, and one by INIonroe. 
Jackson exercised the veto nine times, besides 
pocketing several bills presented just prior to the 
final adjournment. 

So Infrequent was the exercise of this power 

that Jackson and the prerogative Itself were 

241 



-2^^ LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAl^b. 

fiercely attacked, and Tyler had a stormy time 
because he had the temerity to veto six bills. 

'*Polk vetoed three and Pierce nine bills; 
Buchanan and Lincoln but few; Grant more, one 
of his forty-two vetoes being of a bill to in- 
crease the amount of greenbacks to ^400.ocxd,ooo 
and authorize the Issue of ^46,000,000 In national 
bank notes ; Johnson, In his controversy with 
Congress, a great many. And so of President 
Hayes, when it was attempted to repeal general 
legislation by riders on appropriation bills, though 
his most important veto was of the silver bill of 
1878. President Arthur exercised the power but 
rarely. 

''It has devolved upon the present Incumbent 
of the Presidential office to exercise the veto 
power in more instances than all the other Presi- 
dents put together ; a clear indication of the in- 
crease in legislation and of carelessness In the 
enactment of special laws, requiring greater care 
In examination and the application of closer busi- 
ness scrutiny, as well, doubtless, of a different 
view of the functions of eovernment than that In- 
dulgedin by some of the leading politicians In the 
period just preceding Mr. Cleveland's inaugura- 
tion. 

" * * * His view In takinor office seems to 
have been that free Institutions are inconsistent 
with a paternal government; that governmental 
administration Is a business matter, to be carried 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. .^43 

forward on business principles ; that it is the duty 
of the Executive to examine all bills presented 
to him for his approval, and to require a recon- 
sideration of those which he thinks improper to 
he passed into laws. There is not a particle of 
doubt that it was the intention of the framers of 
the Constitution, and of those who adopted it, that 
this should be the attitude of the Executive in re- 
lation to the enactment of laws; and it is clear that 
the danger was that the power would be exer- 
cised too litde, rather than too often or too much. 
It is vastly easier to say yes than no ; to yield to 
importunity rather than resist it."''' 

To Mr. Cleveland's conscientious care and 
unflagging personal industry in the detailed ex- 
amination of lecrislative enactments, as much as to 
the considerations advanced in the foregoing 
extracts, have been due the unexampled fre- 
quency and vigor with which he has wielded the 
veto power. That he has not gone far wrong, 
upon the whole, is shown by the fact that the two 
Houses of Congress have almost invariably 
acquiesced in the wisdom of his decisions and the 
cogency of his reasons. 

APPROPRIATIONS FOR FEDERAL BUILDINGS. 

While individual members, intent upon making 
capital for themselves at home, and special locali- 

* The President's Vetoes, pp. 7, 8. 



244 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

ties, eaeer to serve their own interests at the 
general expense, have bewailed the disapproval 
of their bills for public building appropriations, 
the average common sense of the great body of 
the people has heartily approved the stand taken 
by the President, and has recognized the consist- 
ency of his cause in measuring such bills by con- 
siderations like these, announced in his various 
messao^es : 

" The necessities of the Government should 
control the question, and it should be decided as 
a business proposition, depending upon the needs 
of a Government building at the points proposed, 
in order to do the Government work." 

''While a fine Government buildinof is a desir- 
able ornament to any town or city, and while the 
securing of an appropriation therefor is often 
considered as an illustration of zeal and activity 
in the interests of a constituency, I am of the 
opinion that the expenditure of public money for 
such a purpose should depend upon the necessity 
of such a building for public uses." 

" The care and protection which the Govern- 
ment owes to the people do not embrace the 
grant of public buildings to decorate thriving and 
prosperous cities and villages, nor should such 
buildings be erected upon any principle of fair 
distribution among localities. The Government 
is not an almoner of gifts among the people, but 
an instrumentality by which the people's affairs 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 245 

should be conducted upon business principles, 
regulated by the public needs." 

Upon another occasion, in disposing of a bill 
for the relief of a stricken community, he assumed 
this statesmanlike position : 

" I do not believe that the power ana duty of 
the General Government ought to be extended tc 
the relief of individual suffering which is in no 
manner related to the public service or benefit. 
A prevalent tendency to disregard the limited 
mission of this power and duty should, I think, 
be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson 
should be constantly enforced that though the people 
suppoj't the Govenunent, the Government should nut 
support the people. The friendliness and charity 
of our countrymen can always be relied upon to 
relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune. This 
has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. 
Federal aid i7i such cases encourages the expectation 
of paternal care on the part of the Government, and 
weakens the sturdiness of our national character, 
while it prevents the indulgence among our people 
of the kindly sentiment and conduct which 
strengthen the bond of a common brother- 
hood." 

THE PENSION VETOES. 

His most numerous class of vetoes has included 
a large number of the cases of private pension 
bills, whose beneficiaries or their agents, unwilling 



246 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

to depend upon the ordinary operation of the ex- 
tremely Hberal existing pension laws and their 
present prompt execution, resort to Congress for 
special action on their cases. In that body they 
are acted upon without general investigation of 
their merits and without any of the deliberation 
and care which characterize department work. 

The President, as all members of Congress well 
know, did not overstate the case when, in his 
message of June 21st, 1886, he said: " A large 
proportion of these bills have never been submit- 
ted to a majority of either branch of Congress, 
but are the results of nominal sessions, held for 
the express purpose of their consideration, and 
attended by a small minority of the members of 
the respective Houses of the legislative branch of 
Government. Thus, In considering these bills I 
have not felt that I was aided by the deliberate 
judgment of the Congress; and when I have 
deemed it my duty to disapprove many of the bills 
presented, I have hardly regarded my action as a 
dissent from the conclusions of the people's rep- 
resentatives." 

An uncontradicted description of a recent scene 
in the Senate, with the President's most relentless 
and abusive antagonist. Senator Ingalls, In the 
chair, illustrates how necessary to save the pub- 
lic treasury is the careful and judicious examina- 
tion by the Executive of bills thus passed: 

'* The Senate yesterday considered pension 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 



247 



bills on the calendar and in a short space of time 
passed about ninety of them. The mode of pro- 
cedure in this rapid passage of the bills is rather 
interesting. Usually, when such a measure is to 
be considered, the bill is reported by its number and 
the presiding officer sa)s : Tn Committee of the 
Whole and the bill will he read at leneth.' This is 
done, and then he says : ' The bill is open to 
amendment : if there be no amendment it will be 
reported to the Senate. The Committee has had 

under consideration bill numbered . The bill 

is still open to amendment. If there be no amend- 
ment the question is upon ordering the bill to be 
enorrossed and read a third time. Senators in the 
-affirmative will say '' aye ;" negative, *' no." The 
ayes appear to have it ; the bill will be engrossed 
and read the third time.' The bill is then read 
by its title, when the presiding officer says : ' The 
question is upon the passage of the bill,' and the 
question is then put. 

" But when the Senate is considering these bills 
hastily upon the calendar a different method is 
adopted. It is understood that no objection will 
be made to them, and it is desirable to get them 
out of the way as quickly as possible. Yesterday 
Mr. Ingalls stood up in front of his desk marking 
the place on the calendar. He would call for a 
bill by its number on the order of business and 
the clerk would report its number as a bill. 
Then Mr. Ingalls says: * In Committee of the 



248 ■ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

Whole.' The clerk reads the bill rapidly, and as 
he finishes Mr. Ingalls says : ' Reported to the 
Senate, engrossed, read third time, and passed. 
No. — ,' calling out the next measure. No vote 
is taken ; no one listened to the bill ; in fact, the 
whole business was transacted by the President 
pro te7npo7'e and the Clerk. There were less than 
a dozen Senators in the chamber, all engaged in 
something else than o^ivinor attention to the busi- 
ness being transacted, as, in fact, their attention 
was not required." 

The frequency with which private bills have 
had to be vetoed therefore illustrates the careless- 
ness of Congress and not the existence of any 
hostility on Mr. Cleveland's part to this special 
class of legislation. On the contrary, with proper 
qualification against frauds and impostures upon 
the Government's bounty, Mr. Cleveland has 
shown himself consistently in favor of its most 
liberal extension to deserving subjects of it. In 
his annual message, December 6th, 1886, he pre- 
sents this succinct and striking statement: 

"The report of the Commissioner of Pensions 
contains a detailed and most satisfactory exhibit 
of the operations of the Pension Bureau during 
the last fiscal year. The amottnt of work done 
was the largest in any year since the organiza- 
tion of the Bureau ; and it has been done at 
less cost than du7Hng the previous year in every 
division. 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 249 

"On the thirtieth day of June, 1886, there were 
3^5'7S3 pensioners on the rolls of the Bureau. 

''Since 1 861 there have been 1,018,732 appli- 
cations for pensions filed, of which 78,834 were 
based upon service In the War of 1812. There 
were 62 1,754 of these applications allowed, includ- 
ing- 60,178 to the soldiers of 181 2 and their 
widows. 

"The total amount paid for pensions since 1861 
is $808,624,811.57. 

"The number of new pensions allowed during 
the year ended June 30th, 1886, 1340,857 — alarger 
number than has been allowed In any year save 
one since 1861 ; the names of 2,229 pensioners 
which had been previously dropped from the rolls, 
were restored during the year, and after deduct- 
ing those dropped within the same time for va- 
rious causes, a net increase remains for the year 
of 20,658 names. 

"From January T St, 1 861, to December ist, 1885, 
1 ,967 private pension acts had been passed. Since 
the last-mentioned date, and during the last ses- 
sion of the Congress, 644 such acts became laws. 

" It seems to me that no one can examine our 
pension establishment and Its operations without 
being convinced that through its instrumentality 
justice can be very nearly done to all who are en- 
titled under present laws to the pension bounty 
of the Government. 

" But it is undeniable that cases exist, well en- 



250 L^PE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

titled to relief, in which the Pension Bureau is 
powerless to aid. The really worthy cases of this 
class are such as only lack by misfortune the kind 
or quantity of proof which the law and regu- 
lations of the Bureau require, or which, though 
their merit is apparent, for some other reason 
cannot be justly dealt with through general laws. 
These conditions fully justify application to the 
Congress and special enactments. But resort to 
the Congress for a special pension act to overrule 
the deliberate and careful determination of the 
Pension Bureau on the merits or to secure favor- 
able action when It could not be expected under 
the most liberal execution of general laws, it 
must be admitted, opens the door to the allow- 
ance of questionable claims and presents to the 
legislative and executive branches of the Gov- 
ernm.ent applications concededly not within the 
law and plainly devoid of merit, but so sur- 
rounded by sentiment and patriotic feeling that 
they are hard to resist. I suppose it will not be 
denied that many claims for pensions are made 
without merit and that many have been allowed 
upon fraudulent representations. This has been 
declared from the Pension Bureau, not only In 
this, but in prior Administrations. 

"The usefulness and the justice of any system 
for the distribution of pensions depend upon the 
equality and uniformity of Its operation. 

*Tt will be seen from the report of the Commis- 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 25! 

sloner that there are now paid by the Govern- 
ment one hundred and thirty-one different rates 
of pension. 

"He estimates from the best information he can 
obtain that nine thousand of those who have 
served in the Army and Navy of the United States 
are now supported, in whole or in part, from pub- 
He funds or by organized charities, exclusive of 
those in soldiers' homes under the direction and 
control of the Government. Only 13 per cent, of 
these are pensioners, while of the entire number 
of men furnished for the late war something like 
20 per cent., including their widows and relatives, 
have been or are now in receipt of pensions. 

''The American people, with a patriotic and 
grateful regard for our ex-soldiers — too broad 
and too sacred to be monopolized by any special 
advocates — are not only willing but anxious that 
equal and exact justice should be done to all hon- 
est claimants for pensions. In their sight the 
friendless and destitute soldier, dependent on 
public charity, if otherwise entitled, has precisely 
the same right to share in the provision ma*de for 
those who fought their country's battles as those 
better able, through friends and Influence, to push 
their claims. Every pension that is granted under 
our present plan upon any other grounds than 
actual service, and injury or disease Incurred In 
such service, and every Instance of the many in 
which pensions are increased on other grounds 



2^2 LIFE OF GR VER CLE VELAND. 

than the merits of the claim, work an Injustice to 
the brave and crippled, but poor and friendless 
soldier, who is entirely neglected or who must be 
content with the smallest sum allowed under gen- 
eral laws. 

'* There are far too many neighborhoods in which 
are found glaring cases of Inequality of treatment 
In the matter of pensions ; and they are largely 
due to a yielding in the Pension Bureau to impor- 
tunity on the part of those, other than the pen- 
sioner, who are especially interested, or they arise 
from special acts passed for the benefit of indi- 
viduals. 

"The men who fought side by side should stand 
side by side when they participate in a grateful 
nation's kind remembrance. 

** Every consideration of fairness and justice to 
our ex-soldiers, and the protection of the patriotic 
instinct of our citizens from perversion and viola- 
tion, point to the adoption of a pension system 
broad and comprehensive enough to cover every 
contingency, and which shall make unnecessary 
an objectionable volume of special legislation. 

"As long as we adhere to the principle of grant- 
ing pensions for service, and disability as the re- 
sult of service, the allowance of pensions should 
be restricted to cases presenting these features. 

"Every patriotic heart responds to a tender con- 
sideration for those who, having served their 
country long and well, arc reduced to destitution 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 2^^ 

and dependence, not as an incident of their ser> 
vice, but with advancinof acre or throuorh sickness 
or misfortune. We are all tempted by the con- 
templation of such a condition to supply relief, 
and are often impatient of the limitations of pub- 
lic duty. Yielding to no one in the desire to in- 
dulee this feelinof of consideration, I cannot 
rid myself of the conviction that if these ex- 
soldiers are to be relieved, they and their 
cause are entitled to the benefit of an enact- 
ment, under which relief may be claimed as a 
rleht, and that such relief should be granted 
under the sanction of law, not in evasion of 
it ; nor should such worthy objects of care, all 
equally entitled, be remitted to the unequal opera- 
tion of sympathy, or the tender mercies of social and 
political influence, with their unjust discriminations. 
*' The discharged soldiers and sailors of the coun- 
try are our fellow-citizens, and interested with us 
in the passage and faithful execution of wholesome 
laws. They cannot be swerved from their duty 
of citizenship by artful appeals to their spirit of 
brotherhood born of common peril and suffering, 
nor will they exact as a test of devotion to their 
welfare a willingness to neglect public duty In their 
behalf." 

VETO OF THE DEPENDENT PENSION BILL. 

Early in 1887 Congress passed the first general 
bill ''since the close of the late civil war, permitting 



2 54 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

a pension to the soldiers and sailors who served In 
that war upon the ground of service and present 
disability alone, and in the e7iiire absence of any 
injuries, received by the casualties or incidents of 
such service!' It was, as the President expressed 
it, " an avowed departure from the principle thus 
far adhered to respecting Union soldiers, that the 
bounty of the Government In the Vv^ay of pen- 
sions is generously bestowed when granted to 
those who in their military service, and in the line 
of military duty, have, to a greater or less extent, 
been disabled." In view of this fact ; of the annual 
expenditure already of over ^75,000,000 a year 
for pensions; of nearly 400,000 now borne on the 
pension rolls, and a steady increase of the number* 
the fu rther away the war period becomes, — the Pres- 
ident vetoed the bill, and it did not become a law. 
The force of his reasons for disapproval was rec- 
ognized by conservative men all over the country ; 
and the most intelligent representatives of a sound 
public judgment gave hearty Indorsement to 



* In the New York N'ation of February 3d, 1887, will be found the 
annual cost of the European military establishmeyits with the numbers 
which compose them, as compared with our present and the proposed pen- 
sion list, as follows: 

ANNUAL COST. NUMBERS. 

Great Britain, ^^102,477,010 209,480 

Austria- Hungary, 51,307,602 286,423 

Germany, 91,522,495 449o42 

France, 126,366,086 523,283 

U. S. present pension list, .... 75,000,000 365,783 

As proposed, 147,000,000 ^^S^l^Z 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 



^55 



such considerations as these, advanced in his 



message : 



" I am of the opinion that it may fairly be con- 
tended that under the provisions of this section 
any soldier, whose faculties of mind or body have 
become impaired by accident, disease, or age, 
irrespective of his service in the army as a cause, 
and who by his labor only is left incapable of gain- 
ing the fair support he might with unimpaired 
powers have provided for himself, and who is not 
so well endowed with this world's eoods as to 
live without work, may claim to participate in its 
bounty; that it is not required that he should be 
without property, but only that labor should be 
necessary to his support in some degree ; nor is 
it required that he should be now receiving sup- 
port from others. 

" Believing this to be the proper interpretation 
of the bill, I cannot but remember that the sol 
diers of our civil war, in their pay and bounty, 
received such compensation for military service 
as has never been received by soldiers before, 
since mankind first went to war ; that never 
before, on behalf of any soldiery, have so many 
and such generous laws been passed to relieve 
against the incidents of war ; that statutes have 
been passed giving them a preference in all pub- 
lic employments ; that the really needy and 
homeless Union soldiers of the Rebellion have 
been, to a large extent, provided for at soldiers' 



2^,6 UFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

homes, instituted and supported by the Govern- 
ment, where they are maintained together, free 
from the sense of degradation which attaches to 

o 

the usual support of charity ; and that never 
before in the history of the country has it been 
proposed to render Government aid toward the 
support of any of its soldiers based alone upon a 
military service so recent, and where age and 
circumstances appeared so little to demand such 
aid. 

" Hitherto such relief has been eranted to sur- 
viving soldiers few in number, venerable in age, 
after a long lapse of time since their military ser- 
vice, and as a parting benefaction tendered by a 
grateful people. 

" I cannot believe that the vast peaceful army 
of Union soldiers, who, having contentedly re- 
sumed their places in the ordinary avocations of 
life, cherish as sacred the memory of patriotic 
service, or who, having been disabled by the casu- 
alties of war, justly regard the present pension- 
roll, on which appear their names, as a roll of 
honor, desire at ihls time and in the present ex- 
igency, to be confounded with those who through 
such a bill as this are willing to be objects of 
simple charity and to gain a place upon the pen- 
sion-roll through alleged dependence. 

** Recent personal observation and experience 
constrain me to refer to another result which will 
inevitably follow the passage of this. bill. It is 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. ^57 

sad but nevertheless true, that already in the 
matter of procuring pensions there exists a wide- 
spread disregard of truth and good faith, stimu- 
lated by those who as agents undertake to estab- 
lish claims for pensions, heedlessly entered upon 
by the expectant beneficiary, and encouraged or 
at least not condemned by those unwilling to 
obstruct a neighbor's plans. 

" In the execution of this proposed law under 
any interpretation, a wdde field of inquiry would 
be opened for the establishment of facts largely 
within the knowledge of the claimants alone ; and 
there can be no doubt that the race after the pen- 
sions offered by this bill w^ould not only stimulate 
weakness and pretended incapacity for labor, but 
put a further premium on dishonesty and men- 
dacity. 

*'The effect of new invitations to apply for 
pensions, or of new advantages added to causes 
for pensions already existing, is somedmes start- 
ling. 

"Thus in March, 1879, large arrearages of 
pensions were allowed to be added to all claims 
filed prior to July ist, 1880. For the 3'ear from 
July I St, 1879, to July ist, 1880, there were filed 
110,673 Claims, though in the year immediately 
previous there were but z6,^^2 filed, and in the 
year following but 18,455. 

" While cost should not be set against a patri- 
otic duty or the recognition of a right, sdll, when 



258 LIFE OF GROVFR CLEVELAND. 

a measure proposed is based upon generosity or 
motives of charity, it is not amiss to meditate 
somewhat upon the expense which it involves. 
Experience has demonstrated, I beheve, that all 
estimates concerning" the probable future cost of 
a pension list are uncertain and unreliable, and 
always fall far below actual realization. 

" The chairman of the House Committee on 
Pensions calculates that the number of pensioners 
under this bill would be 33,105, and the increased 
cost $4,767,120 ; this is upon the theory that only 
those who are entirely unable to work would be 
its beneficiaries. Such was the principle of the 
Revolutionary pension law of 181 8, much more 
clearly stated, it seems to me, than in this bill. 
When the law of 18 18 w^as upon its passage in 
Congress the number of pensioners to be bene- 
fited thereby was thought to be 374; but the 
number of applicants under the act was 22,297, 
and the number of pensions actually allowed 
20,485, costing, it is reported, for the first year, 
$[,847,900, instead of $40,000, the estimated ex' 
pense for that period." 

PRIVATE PENSION VETOES. 

Upon such grounds as these the President, while 
signing far more private pension bills* than any of 

* " The Democracy has held sacred and has far advanced the claims of 
the pensioner as the common debt of the common people, to be sacredly, 
Wonestly, and munificently paid. Never since the tender hand of peace 



EXERCISE OE THE VETO POWER. 259 

his predecessors, has felt impelled to puncture a 
vast number of frauds attempted in the name^ of 
charity, and to correct gross carelessness and im- 
providence on the part of Congress in passing 
them. For this he has been subject to malignant 
misrepresentation, and the abuse of rancorous 
partisans and of some narrow^minded people 
who think they are patriots simply because they 
were soldiers. 

Few if any of these complainants have ever had 
the fairness or taken the trouble to actually read 
the vetoes or weigh their merits ; and from such 
no honest judgment can be reasonably expected. 
Even the great body of people will, no doubt, be 
agreeably surprised to find that these much 
maligned vetoes rest on impregnable grounds; and 
Mr. Cleveland could not better afford to invite dis- 
cussion of any phase of his Presidendal policy than 
of the reasons which have induced his disap- 
proval of many of the private pension jobs. They 
are thus summarized in the pamphlet from which 
previous extracts have been made :* 

Some of these bills were vetoed because the 



first bound up the wounds of rugged war; never since the awful fruit of 
battle cumbered the red earih; never since men died and women wept 
and children sorrowed, has greater munificence or more eager willingness 
been manifest than has been shown to the pensioners by the triumphant 
Democracy— which, God willing, shall for many years pour the nation's 
reviving streams by the stricken and dit%o\^^^r— General John C. Black, 
Commissioner of Pensions. 
* «' The Vetoes of the President," pages 13, 14, IS, e6. 



2 6o LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

claims named in them had already been allowed, 
and die effect of permitting them to become laws 
would be to deprive the claimants of several 
months' pay. Some were disapproved because 
the claims were still pending in the Pension Office ; 
some, because disability existed before, and some, 
because it was'occasioned after service. Most of 
the bills disapproved were in respect of claims 
which had already been minutely, and, in many 
instances, frequently examined and rejected in the 
Pension Office ; but in each instance, where time 
was afforded, the President made a careful exam- 
ination for himself, being compelled to let, how- 
ever, a large number become laws for want of 
time to make such examination, of itself a com- 
mentary on the objectionable manner in which 
this business is conducted. Amoncr those vetoed 
we find a claim on behalf of the widow of a per- 
son who, sixteen years after the close of the war, 
fell backward from a ladder and fractured his 
skull ; another, predicated upon the ground that 
the daimant's husband was deaf, and being 
drowned in crossing a river could not hear the 
ferryman call out that the boat was sinking, al- 
though, as the President says, " How he could 
have saved his life if he had heard the warninor, is 
not stated;" another of an old gentleman of sev- 
enty-five, who claimed that he contracted chronic 
diarrhoea in the Blackhawk War. The President 
said : " I am Inclined to think it would have been 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 26 1 

a fortunate thing if, in this case, it could have been 
demonstrated that a man could thrive so well with 
a chronic diarrhoea for fifty-two years, as its exist- 
ence in the case of this good old gentleman would 
prove. We should then, perhaps, have less of 
it in claims for tensions." The examination in 
that case showed that the applicant did not claim 
to have had diarrhoea for many years just preced- 
ing the applicr.tion. 

In another instance, the claim attributed " death 
from apoplexy .o a wound in the knee received 
nineteen years before the apoplectic attack." In 
another case the man was discharged from the 
hospital with a certificate : " We do not believe 
him sick, or that he has been sick, but completely 
worthless. He is obese, and a malingerer to such 
an extent that he is almost an imbecile." 

In another instance the beneficiary's husband 
died in a street fight from the blow of a fist ; in 
another the son was killed in 1862, and his father 
was not aware of it until 1864. The boy had been 
in charge of an uncle, and afterward of other 
persons, ever since he was nine years old. The 
President says : " After the exhibition of heart- 
lessness and abandonment on the part of a father, 
which is a prominent feature in this case, I should 
be sorry to be a party to a scheme permitting him 
to profit by the death of his patriotic son. The 
claimant relinquished the care of his son, and 
should be held to have relinquished all claim to 



262 LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

his assistance, and the benefit so indecently 
claimed, as the result of his death.'' 

In another case of a fisticuff, the Presi- 
dent says : " The Government ought not to be 
called upon to insure against the quarrel- 
some propensities of its individual soldiers, 
nor to compensate one who is worsted in a fight, 
or even in an unprovoked attack, when the cause 
of injury is in no way connected with or related to 
any requirement or incident of military service." 
In another case a widow applied for a pension and 
did not claim that the death resulted from military 
service. The President says : " This presents the 
question whether a gift in such a case is a proper 
disposition of money appropriated for the pur- 
pose of paying pensions. The passage of this 
law would, in my opinion^ establish a precedent 
so far-reaching, and open the door to such a vast 
multitude of claims not on principle within our 
present pension laws, that I am constrained to dis- 
approve the bill under consideration." In another 
instance the decedent was addicted to periodical 
sprees and died In the city lock-up, where he had 
been taken by an officer while on a drunken spree. 
In another case the death was from yellow fever 
in 1878. In another the claimant was enrolled as 
a substitute March 25th, 1865, when high boun- 
ties were paid, and remained in the army one 
month and seventeen days, during which time he 
'aad the measles. " Fifteen years after this bril- 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 26 \ 

liarit service and this terrific encounter with the 
measles, and on the 28th day of June, 1880, the 
claimant discovered that his attack of the measles 
had some relation to his army enrollment, and 
that this disease had settled in his eyes , also af- 
fecting his spinal column," Another case was 
this, as stated by the President : This man '' was 
mustered Into the service October 26th, 1861 ; he 
never did a day's service, so far as his name ap- 
pears, and the muster-out roll of his company re- 
ports him as having deserted at Camp Cameron, 
Pennsylvania, November 14th, 1861. He visited 
his family about the first day of December, 1861, 
and was found December 30th, 1861, drowned in 
a canal about six miles from his home. Those 
who prosecute claims for pensions have grown 
very bold when cases of this description are pre- 
sented for consideration." In another Instance the 
Committee reported favorably, " In view of the 
lone and faithful service and hieh character of the 
claimant." The President states the facts and 
continues: "Thus It quite plainly appears that 
this claimant spent most of his term of enlistment 
in desertion or In Imprisonment as a punishment 
for that offense, and thus is exhibited 'the long 
and faithful service and the hicrh character of the 
claimant,' mentioned as entitling him to consid- 
eration by the Committee who reported favorably 
upon this bill. I withhold my assent from this 
bill because if the facts betore me, derived from 



264 L^F^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

the army records and die statements of the claim 
ant, are true, the allowance of this claim would, 
In my opinion, be a travesty upon our whole 
scheme of pensions and an insult to every decent 
veteran soldier." 

Yet another case was this: The mother of the 
decedent, her husband, the father, having aban- 
doned her, was allowed a pension as dependent 
mother from 1862 to 1884, when she died. The 
father applied in 1877, alleging the death of his 
wife, but the claim was rejected by the Pension 
Office because she was living, and after her death 
again rejected because of the abandonment. The 
President says : '' The allegation in 1877 of the 
man who now poses as the aged and dependent 
father of a dead soldier, that the mother died in 
1872, when at that time her claim was pending 
for pension largely based upon his abandonment; 
the affidavit of the man who testified that he saw 
her die in 1872 ; the effrontery of this unworthy 
father renewing his claim after the detection of 
his fraud and the actual death of the mother, and 
the allegation of the mother that she was a widow 
when in fact she w^as an abandoned wife, show 
the processes which enter into these claims for 
pensions, and the boldness, wath which plans are 
somxetimes concocted to rob the Government by 
actually trafficking in death, and imposing upon 
the sacred sentiments of patriotism and national 
i^fratitude/* 



EXERCISE OF THE VETO POWER. 265 

THE BATTLE-FLAG INCIDENT. 

In the summer of 18S7 occurred the popular 
sensation growing out of an alleged executive order 
for the return to the Confederates of the batde 
flags which had been captured from them by the 
Union forces during the late Civil War. Frothy 
party orators worked themselves and some mis- 
guided people into a state of intense excitement; 
virulent newspapers seized eagerly an opportunity 
to misrepresent the President and his party ; while 
a few Governors, like Foraker, of Ohio, pranced 
to the front with most vehement declarations that 
they would resist all attempts to tear from the 
custody of the States the flags captured by their 
troops — a proceeding which had, of course, never 
been contemplated except in their own imagina- 
tions. 

The simple facts of the matter were that for 
years past, with a growing feeling of friendliness 
between the North and South, and frequent ex- 
change of visits on the part of military organiza- 
tions that had faced each other with hostile front 
on the field, the return of captured battle flags 
had come into vogue. A number of these trophies 
in custody of the War Department at Washing- 
ton had been allowed under Republican Adminis- 
trations to be stowed away in a room in the sub- 
basement and were decaying rapidly when in 
1882 they were transferred to the Ordnance 



2 66 ^'^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

Museum. Adjutant- General Drum, noticing their 
increasing dilapidation, suggested that they be re- 
turned to the States from which the organizations 
carrying them liad come. The President, without 
much reflection, assented to the idea, which, at 
most, was by no means so advanced a measure of 
reconciliation as many that had been urged by 
Sumner, Greeley, Lincoln, Grant, and other leading 
Republicans. As soon as it was recognized that 
the matter was to be made the subject of malig- 
nant representation the country over, the Presi- 
dent quietly gave the following direction revoking 
the order of Adjutant-General Drum : " I have 
considered it with more care, and finding the return 
of the flags not authorized by existing law nor 
justified by any existing act, request nothing fur- 
ther be done except to inventory and take mea- 
sures to preserve them." 

Sufficient pretext, however, had been afforded 
such men as Fairchild, of Wisconsin; Foraker, of 
Ohio; Tuttle, of Iowa, and others of their stripe to 
insult the President; and when, shortly after the 
flag episode, it was announced that he had been 
invited to visit St. Louis on the occasion of the 
National Encampment of the Grand Army of the 
Republic there, it was proclaimed by Tuttle and 
others that if Mr. Cleveland went he would be 
publicly insulted. This declaration of an offensive 
purpose injured only the authors of it, and Gen- 
eral Sherman publicly rebuked it in a letter June 



MXercise of the veto power. 267 

1 2th, in which he declared that the President 
was the Commander-in-chief of all the armies, 
free to go anywhere, and the idea of his being 
insulted by any true soldier was monstrous. The 
President himself in a letter of characteristic 
dignity declined to visit St. Louis on this occasion ; 
but the citizens of Missouri, shamed by the con- 
duct of the Tutdes, Fairchilds, and Forakers, 
urged him to make another opportunity for them 
to show their respect for his high office and him- 
self. This invitation resulted in the tour and re^ 
ception which have been previously described \w 
these pages. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DEMOCRATIC TARIFF REFORM POLICY THE GREAT 

ISSUE OF 1888. 

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND and his Ad- 
ministration had thus, during the first two 
years and a half of his term, inaugurated 
every minor reform that had been promised in 
the platform of the Convention which had nomi- 
nated him or in his own letters and speeches. 
But there was still a great work to be done. This 
was the liofhteninor of the burden of that taxation 
which had been borne by the country since the 
close of the war. Republican Administrations 
had tied up the debt still remaining unpaid in long- 
time bonds, none of which were payable before 
the year 1892, and the most of which run at an 
exorbitant rate of interest until the year 1907. 
This had been done when there was nothing in 
the material condition of the country to demand 
the payment of four or four and a half per cent, 
interest on the debt about to be refunded. 

For many years even the party in power had 
perceived that the time would come when, while 
the money must continue to flow into the Treas- 
ury in undiminished volume, it could not be taken 
268 



DEMOCRATIC TARIFF REFORM POLICY. 



269 



out for any of the legitimate objects of govern- 
ment. So that during all of the Presidential term 
filled by Chester A. Arthur his Secretaries of the 
Treasury had insisted that a wise and discreet 
reduction of the tariff duties was imperative. In 
1883 a Tariff Commission was appointed, but its 
members turned out to be either interested manu- 
facturers themselves or their willing dupes. The 
result was a report which, while it recommended 
a reduction on certain lines of manufactured 
goods and enlarged the free list on some articles 
of almost no importance, really proposed a con- 
siderable increase on other articles necessary for 
the life and comfort of every element of our pop- 
ulation. Even this incongruous report was not 
accepted, but Congress proceeded to make from 
it a compromise scheme, the average reduction of 
which was less than four per cent., while the ine- 
qualities of classification and of tax were not 
removed. On some classes of goods these ine- 
qualities even became greater, experience soon 
proved, while the opportunities for fraud were in- 
creased. It was apparent after a trial of less than 
a year that the tariff must be revised on entirely 
different lines if taxes were to be reduced, and 
labor and capital relieved of the heavy load they 
had carried so long. The party in power, though 
mainly made up of men who were in favor of the 
theory called protection, /. ^., the laying of a tax 
on importations for the benefit of the domestic 



270 ^^^^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND, 

manufacturer and the alleo^ed interest of the lab* 
orer, with incidental reference to the revenue 
needed for the Government, was not wholly com- 
posed of persons professing allegiance to this 
school of political economy. 

This had nominally been the dominant idea in 
the Whig party, of whose effects the Republican 
party became the legatee, but even its leaders 
never for a moment contemplated a tax on im- 
ports averaging nearly fifty per cent, on the entire 
list. A good proportion of the membership of the 
party had, however, been drawn from the young 
and independent men, who from the years 1850 
to i860, had not been satisfied with the policy of 
the then existing political parties. The majority 
of these men were not attached to the idea'of pro- 
tection which has since become so popular with 
its beneficiaries as to acquire a sort of sacredness. 
So that in 1857, when the further reduction of the 
revenue tariff of 1846 was under discussion in 
Congress, two-thirds of the Representatives, and 
nearly all the Senators from New England, most 
of whom were adherents of the Republican party, 
voted in favor of the bill. Among these, was 
Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, who had raised 
himself from the humblest surroundino^s and was 
to live to become Vice-President of the United 
States; in a long speech in which he expressed the 
sentiments of his colleague, Mr. Sumner, as well as 
his own, he said : 



DEMOCRA TIC TARIFF REFORM POLICY. o / I 
HENRY WILSON ON THE TARIFF IN 1857. 

"The manufacturers, Mr. Chairman, make no 
war upon the wool-growers. They assume that 
the reduction of the duty on wool, or repeal of the 
duty altogether, will infuse vigor into that droop- 
ing interest, stimulate home production, and dim- 
inish the importation of foreign woolen manufac- 
turers, and afford a steady and increasing demand 
for American wool. They believe this policy will 
be more beneficial to the wool-growers, to the 
agricultural interests, than the present policy. 
The manufacturers of woolen fabrics, many of 
them men of large experience and extensive 
knowledge, entertain these views, and they are 
sustained in these opinions by the experience 
of the great manufacturing nations of the Old 
World. 

"Since the reductions of duties on raw mate- 
rials in England, since wool was admitted free, her 
woolen manufactures have so increased, so pros- 
pered, that the production of native wool has in- 
creased more than loo percent. The experience 
of England, France, and Belgium demonstrates 
the wisdom of that policy which makes the raw 
material duty free. Let us profit by their example. 

" If our manufactures are to increase, to keep 
pace with the population and the growing wants 
of our people; if we are to have the control of 
the markets of our own country; if we are to 



^7^ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

meet with and compete with the manufacturers of 
England and other nations of Western Europe in 
the markets of the world, we must have our raw 
materials admitted duty free or at a mere nomi- 
nal rate. 

******** 

" We of New England believe that wool, es- 
pecially the cheap wools, manila, hemp, flax, raw 
silk, lead, tin, brass, hides, linseed, and many other 
articles used in our manufactories can be admit- 
ted dutyfree, or for a mere nominal duty, without 
injuring to any extent any considerable interest 
of the country." 

Further on he said: 

" In closing, Mr. Chairman, the remarks I have 
felt it my duty to submit to the Senate and the 
country, that the Commonwealth I represent on 
this floor — I say in part, for my colleague, Mr. 
Sumner, after an enforced absence of more than 
nine months, is here to-night to give his vote if he 
can raise his voice for the interest of his State — 
has a deep interest in the modification of the tariff 
of 1846 by this Congress. Her merchants, man- 
ufacturers, mechanics, and businessmen in all de- 
partments of a varied industry want action now 
before the Thirty-fourth Congress passes away. 

" They are for the reduction of the revenue to 
the actual wants of an economical administration 
of the Government; for the depletion of the 
Treasury, now full with millions of hoarded gold; 



DEMOCRATIC TARIFF REFORM POLICY. 



273 



for a free-list embracing articles of prime neces- 
sity we do not produce ; for mere nominal duties 
on articles which make up a large portion of our do- 
mestic industry^ and for such an adjustment of the 
duties on the productions of other nations that 
come in direct competition with the product of 
American capital, labor, and skill as shall im- 
pose the least burdens on that capital, labor, and 
skill." 

Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, then a member of the 
House, now the patriarch of the Senate, expressed 
the opinion that the proposed duty of 20 per cent, 
on cutlery, edged tools, etc., was ample in spite 
of the fact that he has now announced his oppo- 
sition to a bill which makes a slio^ht reduction in 
the present duty of 50 per cent, on the same class 
of goods ! 

JOHN SHERMAN IN 1 867. 

In 1867 John Sherman, of Ohio, in the course 
of a speech discussing the revenue question, said: 
" Every law imposing a duty on imported goods 
is necessarily a restraint on trade. It imposes a 
burden upon the purchase and sale of imported 
goods and tends to prevent their importation. 
The expression 'a free-trade tariff,' involves an 
absurdity." * * * ''Every duty on imported mer- 
chandise orives to the domestic manufacturer an 
advantage equal to the duty, and to that extent 



274 ^^^^ ^^ GROVER CLEVELAND. 

every tariff is a protective tariff." * * * "If you 
converse with Intelligent men engaged In the 
business of manufacturing they will tell you that 
they are willing to compete with England, France, 
Germany, and all the countries of Europe at the 
old rates of duty. If you reduce their products 
to a specie basis, and put them upon the same 
footing they were on before the war, the present 
rates of duty would be too high. It would not be 
necessary for scarce any branch of industry to be 
protected to the extent of your present tariff law. 
They do not ask protection against the pauper 
labor of Europe, but they ask protection against 
the creation of your own laws." 

In March, 1872, in a speech discussing this ever 
present question, Mr. Sherman said: *' I have 
listened with patience, day by day, to the state- 
ments of gentlemen who are interested In our 
domestic productions. I am a firm believer In 
the general Idea of protecting their Industries, but 
I assure them, as I assure their representatives 
here, that if the present high rates of duty, unex- 
ampled In our country, and higher by nearly 50 
per cent, than they were in 1861, are maintained 
on metallic and textile fabrics after we have re- 
pealed the very internal taxes which gave rise to 
them, and after we have substantially given them 
their raw materials free of duties, we shall have a 
feellnof of dissatisfaction amonor other interests 



DEMOCRA TIC TARIFF REFORM FOLIC Y. 275 

In the country that will overthrow the whole system, 
and do greater harm than can possibly be done 
by a moderate reduction of the present rates of 
duty. And I am quite sure that intelligent men 
engaged in the production of various forms of 
textile and metallic fabrics feel as I do, that it is 
wiser and better to do what is just and right, to 
make a reduction on their products, at least to the 
extent of the reduction in this bill on the raw 
materials, rather than to invite a controversy in 
which I believe they will be in the wrong." * * * 
'' The public mind is not yet prepared to apply 
the key to a genuine revenue reform. A few 
years of further experience will convince the 
whole body of our people that a system of 
national taxes, which rests the whole burden of 
taxation on consumption, and not one cent on 
property or income, is intrinsically unjust. While 
the expenses of the National Government are 
largely caused by the protection of property, it is 
but right to require property to contribute to 
their payment. It will not do to say that each 
person consumes in proportion to his means. This 
is not true. Every one must see that the con- 
sumption of the rich does not bear the same re- 
lation to the consumption of the poor as the in- 
come of the one does to the wages of the other. 
As wealth accumulates this injustice in the funda- 
mental basis of our system will be felt and forced 
upon the attention of Congress," 



276 L^P^ OF G ROVER CLEVELAND 

PRESIDENT Arthur's views. 

President Arthur, In his annual messagfe, trans- 
mitted to Congress in December, 1882, used the 
followlnor lancruao^e : " I recommend an enlaro^e- 
ment of the free Hst so as to include the numerous 
articles which yield inconsiderable revenue, a 
simplification of the complex and inconsistent 
schedule of duties upon certain manufactures, 
particularly cotton, iron, and steel, and a sub- 
stantial reduction of duties on those articles and 
on sugar, molasses, silk, wool, and woolen goods.'* 

Charles J. Folger, Secretary of the Treasury, 
in his report to President Arthur, made at the 
same time, said: *' The classes of merchandise 
paying the largest amount of duties from customs 
are the followinor: Suear and molasses, wool 
and manufactures from it, iron and steel and the 
manufactures from them, manufactures of silk, 
manufactures of cotton. A substantial reduction 
upon each of the class of articles named is rec- 
ommended. And it is believed that the time has 
arrived when a reduction of duties on nearly all the 
articles in the tariff is demanded and is feasible." 

In his annual report for 1884, Hugh McCulloch, 
President Arthur's last Secretary of the Treasury, 
concluded a long discussion of the revenue de- 
rived for customs duty with the following recom- 
mendations : — 

" First — That the existing duties upon raw 



DEMOCRATIC TARIFJ" REFORM POLICY. 277 

material which are used in manufactures should 
be removed. This can be done in the interest of 
our foreign trade. 

" Second — That the duties upon the articles 
used or consumed by those who are least able to 
bear the burden of taxation should be reduced. 
This also can be effected without prejudice to our 
export trade." 

The Republican tariff platform of 1884 de 
clared : 

" The Democratic party has failed complete^/ 
to relieve the people of the burden of unneces- 
sary taxation by a wise reduction of the surplus. 
The Republican party pledges itself to correct th'-j 
inequalities of the tariff and to reduce the sur- 
plus." 

CLEVELAND ON THE TARIFF. 

In his first annual message President Cleveland 
gave due attention to this question without con- 
ferring upon it that prominence it attained in late 
messages when the gravity of the case demanded 
more extended and more heroic treatment. 

He said : " A due regard for the interests and 
prosperity of all the people demands that our 
finance shall be established upon such a sound and 
sensible basis as shall secure the safety and con- 
fidence of business interests and make the wages 
of labor sure and steady ; and that our system of 
revenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the 



278 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

people from unnecessary taxation, having a du(; 
regard to the interests of capital invested and of 
workingmen employed in American industries, 
and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in 
the Treasury to tempt extravagance and waste." 

In his second annual message, transmitted to 
Congress in December, 1886, the President en- 
larged upon the issue which was then assuming 
the first importance. His views are fairly re- 
flected in the following extracts: 

" Good government, and especially the govern- 
ment of wdiich every American citizen boasts, has 
for its objects the protection of every person 
within its care In the greatest liberty consistent 
with the good order of society, and his perfect 
security In the enjoyment of his earnings, with the 
least possible diminution for public needs. When 
more of the people's substance is exacted through 
the form of taxation than is necessary to meet the 
just obligations of the Government and the ex- 
pense of Its economical administration, such ex- 
action becomes ruthless extortion and a violation 
of the fundamental principles of a free Govern- 
ment. 

** Those w^ho toil for daily wages are beginning 
to understand that capital, though sometimes 
vaunting Its Importance and clamoring for the 
protection and favor of the Government, is dull 
and sluggish, till, touched by the magical hand of 
labor, It springs into activity, furnishing an occa- 



DE MO CKA TIC TARIFF REFORM FOLIC Y. 279 

sion for Federal taxation and gaining the value 
which enables it to bear its burden. And the la- 
boring man is thoughtfully inquiring whether in 
these circumstances, and considering the tribute 
he constantly pays into the public Treasury as he 
supplies his daily wants, he receives his fair share 
of advantages. 

" There is also a suspicion abroad, that the sur- 
plus of our revenues indicates abnormal and ex- 
ceptional business profits, which, under the system 
which produces such surplus, increase, without 
corresponding benefit to the people at large, the 
vast accumulations of a few amono^ our citizens 
whose fortunes, rivaling the wealth of the most 
favored in anti-democratic nations, are not the 
natural growth of a steady, plain, and industrious 
republic. 

" It has been the policy of the Government to 
collect the principal part of its revenues by a tax 
upon imports ; and no change in this policy is de- 
sirable. But the present condition of affairs con- 
strains our people to demand that by a revision 
of our revenue laws the receipts of the Govern- 
ment shall be reduced to the necessary expense 
of its economical administration ; and this demand 
should be recognized and obeyed by the people's 
representatives in the legislative branch of the 
Government. 

" In readjusting the burdens of Federal taxation, 
3 sound public policy requires that such of our 



23o ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

citizens as have built up large and Important 
industries under present conditions should not 
be suddenly and to their injury, deprived of ad- 
vantages to which they have adapted their business; 
but if the public good requires it, they should be 
content with such consideration as shall deal 
fairly and cautiously with their interests, while 
the just demand of the people for relief from 
needless taxation is honestly answered. A reason- 
able and timely submission to such a demand 
should certainly be possible without disastrous 
shock to any interest ; and a cheerful concession 
sometimes averts abrupt and heedless action, often 
the outgrowth of impatience and delayed justice. 
" Due regard should be also accorded, in any 
proposed readjustment, to the interests of 
American labor so far as they are Involved. We 
coneratulate ourselves that there Is amonof us no 
laboring class, fixed within unyielding bounds and 
doomed under all conditions to the Inexorable 
fate of daily toil. We recognize in labor a chief 
factor in the wealth of the Republic, and we treat 
those who have it in their keeping as citizens en- 
titled to the most careful reofard and thouorhtful 
attention. This regard and attention should be 
awarded them, not only because labor is the 
capital of our workingmen, justly entitled to its 
share of Government favor, but for the further 
and not less Important reason, that the laboring 
man, surrounded by his family in his humble home 



DEMOCRA Ti C TARIFF REFORM POL IC V. 2 S I 

as a consumer is vitally interested in all that 
cheapens the cost of living and enables him to 
bring within his domestic circle additional com- 
forts and advantages. 

" This relation of the workingman to the reve- 
nue laws of the country, and the manner in which 
it palpably influences the question of wages, 
should not be forgotten in the justifiable promi- 
nence given to the proper maintenance of the 
supply and protection of well-paid labor. And 
these considerations suggest such an arrangement 
of Government revenues as shall reduce the ex- 
pense of living, while it does not curtail the op- 
portunity for work nor reduce the compensation 
of American labor, and injuriously affect its con- 
dition and the dignified place it holds in the esti- 
mation of our people. 

" But our farmers and aorriculturists — those who 
from the soil produce the things consumed by 
all — are perhaps more directly and plainly con- 
cerned than any other of our citizens in a just 
and careful system of Federal taxation. Those 
actually engaged in and more remotely connected 
with this kind of work number nearly one-half of 
our population. None labor harder or more con- 
tinuously than they. No enactments limit their 
hours of toil, and no interposidon of the Govern- 
ment enhances to any great extent the value of 
their products. And yet for many of the neces- 
saries and comforts of life, which the most scru- 



2S2 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

pulous economy enables them to bring inio their 
homes, and for their implements of husbandry, 
they are obliged to pay a price largely increased 
by an unnatural profit which, by the action of the 
Government, is given to the more favored manu- 
facturer. 

" I recommend that, keeping in view all these 
considerations, the increasing and unnecessary 
surplus of national income annually accumulating 
be released to the people by an amendment to 
our revenue laws which shall cheapen the price of 
the necessaries of life and eive freer entrance to 
such imported materials as by American labor 
may be manufactured into marketable commodi- 
ties. Nothing can be accomplished, however, in 
the direction of this much-needed reform unless 
the subject is approached in a patriotic spirit of 
devotion to the interests of the entire country and 
with a willingness to yield something for the pub- 
lic good." 

SOUNDING A BATTLE CRY. 

But all that had gone before was the merest 
child's play compared with the courage, the mag- 
nificent audacity of statesmanship, which the Pres- 
ident displayed in his third annual message, trans- 
mitted to the opening session of the Fiftieth Con- 
gress, in December, 18S7. Rising to the occasion 
by casting all other issues aside, as unimportant 
'*n comparison with the reduction of revenues in 



DEMOCRA TIC TARIFF REFORM FOLIC K 283 

order to rid the country of a dangerous surplus, 
he devoted all his annual message to the consid- 
eration of this one question.* This document 
was brief to a degree which was comforting 
when the long, prosy messages usually sent to 
Congress by Presidents are considered. Fojf 
once the people of the United States had a mes- 
sage they could read and did read. The effect 
was immediate. Public attention was focused 
upon this one great question as it had not been 
similarly directed to any issue since the absorbing 
days of the war. Young men not accustomed to 
such direct and pointed appeals were surprised, 
but their attention and their intelligence were 
aroused. Politicians who had been accustomed 
to discuss only the war and Its cognate questions 
were amazed at the awful audacity of a President 
who did not so much as Intimate anything about 
the various sections of the country. Some timid 
members of the President's own party were 
alarmed at his seeming willingness to Intrust all 
his political eggs to one basket. The protected 
manufacturers who had fattened on a tariff were 
naturally alarmed. But the general feeling In 

* It has not been thought necessary or desirable in such a book as this^ 
to attempt to make extracts from the President's annual message of 1887. 
Every word would be essential to a knowledge of it. A complete appre- 
ciation of the leading issues of the second campaign can only be gained 
by a thorough study of this document, and of the speeches made in the 
House in support of it 



284 Z/Zi? OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

the country was one of relief. Its politics had 
been drifting into a condition of torpidity, and 
the country, as was so well shown by the Presi- 
dent, was plunging Into the most serious of 
perils. Great satisfaction was expressed among 
men of every avocation and party at the feeling 
that something more than a mere commonplace 
struggle over the offices was now to begin. 
The message at once attracted the attention of 
the leaders of the Republican party, now in the 
minority and opposition. Mr. Blaine, ever eager 
to direct attention to himseli, submitted himself to 
a newspaper interview in Paris. Senator Sher- 
man took occasion to make such reply from his 
place on the floor of th<i Senate as showed that 
he had forgotten his conservative and progressive 
words of former days. The press discussed the 
question from every point of view, and in every 
circle, from one end of the country to the other, 
the President's message became the one subject 
for conversation and discussion. 

The effect upon the lower House of Congress 
was no less Important. The Committee on Ways 
and Means was selected with unusual care, and 
at once went to work to prepare a careful, conser- 
vative bill in line with the messao^e. Such a bill 
was reported in due time, and the most extended 
and Interestlncr discussion of the tariff issue heard 
in this country since the enactment of the Walker 
tariff was entered upon. The debate was opened 




CHIEF-JLSTICE FULLER. 



DEMOCRATIC TARIFF REFORM POLICY. 



285 



with a speech by Ro^er Q. Mills, of Texas, Chair- 
man of the Committee on Ways and Means, 
which was one of the clearest and most luminous 
arguments ever presented before the Congress of 
the United States. Other members of the major- 
ity of the Committee, Messrs. Scott, Breckenridge, 
Wilson, and Bynum, together with the Speaker, 
Mr. Carlisle, and Messrs. Cox, Russell, Buckalew, 
and many of the D.^mocratic members, Mr. Fitch, 
of New York, Mr. Nelson, of Minnesota, Repub- 
licans, spoke in favor of the principle of the 
bill. 

On the Republican side, the brunt of the debate 
was borne by Messrs. Kelley, McKinley, Reed, 
Burleigh, Boutelle, Butterworth, and Grosvenor. 
The only Democrat who arrayed himself against 
the bill was Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania, whose 
speech was temperate in tone. 

In the meantime, this general discussion of the 
principles of the message spread into the State 
Conventions of the Democratic party, then just 
meetlno- to select delecrates to the National Con- 
vention called to meet at St. Louis on the fifth of 
June. Every such body in every State of the 
Union indorsed substantially the President's posi- 
tion, chose delegates in favor of his renomination, 
and in the majority of States commended the bill 
of the Ways and Means Committee to Demo- 
cratic members of Congress. Even in Pennsylva- 
nia, which has been for nearly a century coddled 



236 ^^^'"^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

and cosseted on a protective tariff, until its people 
had come to look upon themselves as the benefi- 
ciaries of the Government, the party broke away 
from the narrow trammels which had bound it and 
keptitoutof harmony with the organization in 
the rest of the country, and a strong platform was 
adopted, in which the action of the President was 
commended. The Temporary Chairman of the 
Convention, W. U. Hensel, and the Permanent 
Chairman, PZx-Senator William A. Wallace, both 
insisted upon the most outspoken utterance pos- 
sible, and their advice was followed to the letter. 
The credit for this condition oi the public mind 
must be awarded to the President. Seeing clearly 
the danger, appreciating the necessity for some 
bold utterance from one who could speak as with 
authority, he had the courage to do what he deemed 
his duty. The Mills bill failed to become a law. 
The Republican majority in the Senate proved 
fatal to it, and President Cleveland was pre- 
vented from Inauo^uratln;^ the rei^n of those 
Democratic principles which he had so ably and 
vigorously advocated, and so earnestly main- 
tained throughout his administration. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CONVENTIOX OF 1 888. 

WHEN the National Democratic Con- 
vention met in Washington, in 1888, 
as usual in Presidential years, on 
February 2 2d, it began the work of the cam- 
paign under auspices more favorable than had 
appeared under an administration of its party 
for 56 years. The course of President Cleveland 
had been such as not only to command party 
favor, but the admiration and enthusiastic support 
of conservative men of every party. No other 
name was mentioned or thouorht of for the nomi- 
nation as a candidate for President in any State 
or section of the Union. Never before in the 
history of national Conventions, except in 1832, 
when Andrew Jackson was the unanimous choice 
of the Democratic party for re-nomination, and in 
1872, when Ulysses S. Grant was chosen as the 
unanimous nominee of the Republican party, had 
there been an instance wherein no other candi- 
date was thought of or mentioned ; and in the 
case of Grant's re-nomination the assurance of it 
drove many of the ablest Republican leaders and 
newspapers Into open revolt, and created dissen- 
sions which were never healed. 

The only contest before the Committee was In 

287 



2gg LIFE OF a ROVER CLEVELAND. 

reference to the place for holding the Convention, 
St. Louis being finally decided upon, while June 
5th was selected as the date. Before this time 
arrived the Democratic Conventions of every 
State in the Union had unanimously demanded 
the re-nomination of President Cleveland, and 
had indorsed his position on the tariff as logical, 
safe, and Democratic. 

On the day fixed for the opening of the Con- 
vention, St. Louis swarmed with delegates and 
alternates, appointed by the several States, while 
thousands of friends to the cause had made their 
way to the same centre of interest. The weather 
was pleasant, and a hearty welcome was accorded 
them by the hospitable inhabitants of the Queen 
City of the Mississippi. 

The Convention was called to order at 1 2 
o'clock of Tuesday, June 5th, by William H. Bar- 
num, of Connecticut, Chairman of the National 
Committee. Stephen M. White, Lieutenant- 
Governor of California, then took his seat as tem- 
porary Chairman of the Convention, eloquently 
indicating the position of the party in his opening 
address. After the appointment of committees 
and the election of officers and secretaries, the 
Convention adjourned until 10 o'clock on 
Wednesday morning. 

At the opening of the second day's session the 
name of Patrick A. Collins, Representative in 
Congress from Massachusetts, was reported as 



THE cox VENT/OX OE iSSS. 2?Q 

President of the Convention, and he was escorted 
to his seat, from which he made an extended ad- 
dress, clearly laying down the principles of the 
Democratic party, maintaining that they had re- 
mained without change from the days of Jeffer- 
son, and eulogizing the administration of Presi- 
dent Cleveland. ■ 

'* We need not wait for time to do justice to the 
character and services of President Cleveland," 
were his closing words. '* Honest, clear-sighted, 
patient, grounded in respect for law and justice ; 
with a thorough grasp of principles and situa- 
tions ; with marvelous and conscientious industry ; 
the very incarnation of firmness — he has nobly 
fulfilled the promise of his party, nobly met the 
expectations of his country, and written his name 
hieh on the scroll where future Americans will 
read the names of men who have been supremely 
useful to the Republic. 

" Fellow- Democrats : This is but the initial 
meeting in a political campaign destined to be 
memorable. It will be a clashing of nearly even 
forces. Let no man here or elsewhere belittle or 
underestimate the strencrth or resources of the 
opposition. But great as they are, the old Dem- 
ocratic party, In conscious strength and perfect 
union, faces the issue fearlessly." 

DANIEL DOUGHERTY NOMINATES CLEVELAND. 

When all the necessary routine business had 
been transacted, It was proposed that, as the 
19 



2 go LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

Committee on Resolutions was not yet ready to 
report, the Convention should adjourn until even- 
in:^. This motion was resisted and the rules 
were suspended in order that the roll of States 
miorht be called for naminor candidates for Presi- 
dent. Thereupon the State of Alabama, when 
called, surrendered its right to name a candidate 
to Daniel Dougherty, of New York, who pre- 
sented the name of Grover Cleveland in a telling 
speech, from which we make the following ex- 
tracts : 

*' He is the man for the people. His career 
illustrates the glory of our institutions. Eight 
years ago unknown, save in his own locality, he 
for the last four years has stood in the gaze of 
the world, discharcrinor the most exalted duties 
that can be confided to a mortal. He has met and 
mastered every question as if from youth trained 
to statesmanship. The promises of his letter of 
acceptance and inaugural address have been ful- 
filled. His fidelity in the past inspires faith in 
the future. He is not a hope. He is a realiza- 
tion. . . . 

*' Sectional strife, as never before, is at an end, 
and 60 millions of freemen in the ties of brother- 
hood are prosperous and happy. These are the 
achievements of this administration. Under this 
illustrious leader we are ready to meet our politi- 
cal opponents in high and honorable debate, and 
stake our triumph on the intelligence, virtue, and 
patriotism of the people. Adhering to the Con 



THE COXVEXTIOX OF i8SS. ^Ql 

stitution, Its every line and letter, ever remember- 
ing that powers not delegated to the United States 
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to die 
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or 
to the people, by the authority of the Democracy 
of New York, and by the Democracy of the en- 
tire Union, I give you a name entwined with vic- 
tory, I nominate Grover Cleveland, of New 
York." 

Immediately upon the name of the President 
being pronounced there ensued a scene which 
baffles all attempts at description. The like of it 
is to be seen only at a National political conven- 
tion, but such a fervent and prolonged outburst 
of enthusiasm as took place upon this occasion 
was without a precedent In American political 
history A contemporary account of It says: 
" The delegates were standing on their chairs, 
waving their hats, handkerchiefs, and canes, and 
cheering like mad. Some of them opened their 
umbrellas and waved them. The uproar was 
deafening. Somebody pressed an electric button 
upon the platform and the band at the far end of 
the Convention struck up. Just what the air was 
nobody could distinguish from the reporters' gal- 
lery. The spectators in the galleries were more 
wildly enthusiastic than the occupants of the floor. 
The bronzed eagles were torn from their fasten- 
ings and hoisted to view by eager hands. The 
delegates upon the floor below were bombarded 



2Q2 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

with wads of morning newspapers. One of the 
Vice-Presidents crowned the bust of President 
Cleveland with a wreath of laurel. By means of 
an Ingenious contrivance a life-size figure repre- 
senting the President appeared upon the screen 
that covered the end of the hall and disappeared 
within the doors of the Capitol thereon depicted. 
The standards were snatched from their sockets, 
and the banners of the States and Territories were 
massed above the New York delectation. It was 
a demonstration that lasted twenty-five minutes, 
and then, as the din died away, the strains of The 
Star-Spangled Banner and Yankee Doodle filled 
the air." 

After the enthusiasm had subsided, and favoring 
addresses had been made by several members of 
the Convention, the question of nominating Cleve- 
land by acclamation was put to the Convention, 
and without a dissentlnor voice he was declared to 
be the candidate of the Democratic party for 
President of the United States. Exactly one hour 
and a quarter had been consumed In reaching this 
unanimous result, when the Convention adjourned 
until the followinor morninor. 

The meeting on Thursday opened with the 
presentation of the platform, which was offered as 
the unanimous afrreement of the Committee. It 
strongly arraigned the policy of the Republican 
party, declaring that : 

"The Republican party, controlling the Senate 



THE COXVEXriON OF 1888. 30^ 

and resisting in both Houses of Congress a 
reformation of unjust and unequal tax laws, 
which have outlasted the necessities of war and 
are now undermining the abundance of a long 
peace, deny to the people equality before the law 
and the fairness and the justice which are their 
right. Then the cry of American labor for a 
better share In the rewards of industry Is stifled 
with false pretenses, enterprise is fettered and 
bound down to home markets, capital is discour- 
aged with doubt, and unequal, unjust laws can 
neither be properly amended nor repealed. The 
Democratic party will continue with all the power 
confided to It the struggle to reform these laws in 
accordance with the pledo^es of its last platform, 
indorsed at the ballot-box by the suffrages of the 
people. 

" The Democratic policy is to enforce frugality 
in public expense and abolish unnecessary taxa- 
tion. Our established domestic Industries and 
enterprises should not and need not be endan- 
gered by the reduction and correction of the 
burdens of taxation. On the contrary, a fair and 
careful revision of our tax laws, with due allow- 
ance for the difference between the wao-es of 
American and foreign labor, must promote and 
encourage every branch of such industries and 
enterprises, by giving them assurance of an ex- 
tended market and steady and continuous opera- 
tions. In the Interests of American labor, which 
should in no event be neglected, the revision of 



2Q4 ^^^'^' OF GROriiR CLEVELAATD 

our tax laws contemplated by the Democratic 
party should promote the advantage of such labor, 
by cheapening the cost of necessaries of life in 
the home of every workingman, and at the same 
time securing to him steady and remunerative 
employment. 

" Upon this question of tariff reform, so closely 
concerning every phase of our national life, and 
upon every question involved in the problem of 
good government, the Democratic party submits 
its principles and professions to the intelligent 
suffrages of the American people." 

The platform reported by the Committee was 
agreed to by a unanimous vote, after which the 
Convention proceeded to the roll-call of States 
for nominations for Vice-President. When Cali- 
fornia was reached, M. F. Tarpey presented the 
name of Allen G. Thurman, of Ohio, in a lengthy 
speech, which aroused great enthusiasm. Isaac 
P. Gray, of Indiana, and Gen. John C. Black, of 
Illinois, were also nominated. Gen. Black's name 
being withdrawn at his request. On the vote 
being taken, Mr. Thurman received 687 votes; 
Mr. Gray, 104, and Gen. Black, 31. The nomi- 
nation of Mr. Thurman was then made unani- 
mous, amid long-continued applause, and the 
Convention adjourned sine die, after adopting a 
resolution of regret for the recent deaths of those 
former Democratic armor-bearers, Gen. W. S. 
Hancock, Samuel J. Tilden, Gen. George B. 
McClellan, and Horatio Seymour. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE t888 election campaign. 

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND was formally 
notified of his nomination on the 26th of 
June, 1888, the Committee upon Notifi- 
cation, headed by Chairman ColHns, calling- upon 
him in the Executive Mansion, where they were 
received by the President, his family, and the 
members of the Cabinet. The formal letter of 
notification was read by Mr. Charles D. Jacob, of 
Kentucky, whereupon the President replied in an 
earnest address, of which we orive the concludino- 
and most significant portions : 

" Four years ago I knew that our Chief Execu- 
tive office, if not carefully guarded, might drift 
litde by little away from the people to whom it 
belonged and become a perversion of all it ought 
to be ; but I did not know how much its moorines 
had already been loosened. I knew four years 
ago hov/ well devised were the principles of true 
Democracy for the successful operation of a gov- 
ernment by the people and for the people; but I 
did not know how absolutely necessary their ap- 
plication then was for the restoration to the peo- 
ple of their safety and prosperity. I knew then 
that abuses and extravagances had crept into the 
management of public affairs, but I did not know 

295 



2q5 life of G rover CLEVELAND. 

their numerous forms nor the tenacity of their 
grasp. I knew then something of the bitterness 
of partisan obstruction, but I did not know how 
bitter, how reckless, and how shameless it coukl 
be. I knew, too, that the American people were 
patriotic and just, but I did not know how grandly 
they loved their country nor how noble and gen- 
erous they were. 

'.'I shall not dwell upon the acts and the policy 
of the administration now drawing to its close. 
Its record is open to every citizen in the land. 

^' And yet I will not be denied the privilege of 
asserting at this time that in the exercise of the 
functions of the high trust confided to me, I have 
yielded obedience only to the Constitution and 
the solemn obligation of my oath of office. I have 
done those thinirs which, in the liofhtof the under- 
standing God has given me, seemed most condu- 
cive to the welfare of my countrymen and the 
promotion of good government. 

" I would not if I could, for myself nor for you, 
avoid a single consequence of a fair interpretation 
of my course. 

"It but remains for me to say to you, and 
through you to the Democracy of the nation, that 
I accept the nom'natioa with which they have 
honored me, and that I will in due time signify 
such acceptance in the usual formal manner." 

The formal letter of acceptance promised at the 
conclusion of his address was published on Sep- 



THE 1888 ELECTION CAMPAIGN. 207 

tember loth. It reiterated the strong views ex- 
pressed in his message to Congress in the pre- 
ceding December, in favor of tariff reduction, and 
in relation to the dangers likely to arise from a 
surplus in the Treasury. 

The Issue of tariff reform, thus forcibly pre- 
sented, became that of the campaign, which, to a 
remarkable degree, was free from personalities 
and lying statements, and devoted to the real 
questions in controversy between the parties. The 
Republicans took up this tariff question as the 
basis of their arguments, a position m which they 
were squarely met by the Democrats ; and alike 
on the rostrum and in the paper this became the 
absorbing topic of the canvass. Civil service re- 
form. Southern representation, and the personal 
records of the candidates all sunk Into inslonifi- 
cance before this great question, and the issue of 
free trade or protection was presented to the 
voting population of America as never before. 
For almost the first time in a Presidential canvass 
principles outweighed personalities, and the people 
found themselves face to face with the great ques- 
tions of the day, instead of being regaled with 
new editions of the old campaign lies which had 
been so plentifully served up on former similar 
occasions. 

THE MURCHISON LETTER. 

In the midst of the canvass an event took place 
of absorbing interest and importance, which at- 



2q3 LIt'E OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

tracted the attention not only of our own country, 
but of Great Britain, and in which President 
Cleveland handled an attempt to put himself and 
his party in a false position with a straightforward 
vigor which won him the approbation of both 
parties alike. The circumstance was one of inter- 
national courtesy and obligation, not of party 
politics, and our citizens, without regard to party 
affiliation, sustained the President in his decided 
course. 

The circumstance was the following: On 
October 24th a letter was published, purporting 
to be written by one Charles F. Murchison, of a 
locality in Southern California, and addressed to 
the British Minister at Washincrton, askinij: his 
advice in regard to the political situation. The 
writer stated that he was a naturalized citizen of 
the United States, of English birth, and that, despite 
his political affiliation with this country, he still 
looked upon England as his mother land. The 
information he sought was as to how he should 
vute, or which party policy he had best sustain, in 
consideration of the interests of his home country. 
He declared that he sought this information, not 
for himself alone, but that he might help many 
others who were situated like himself, and show 
them how best to act politically as British citizens 
of the United States. He went on wiih gross 
rt^flections in regard to the conduct of the United 
States concerning questions in controversy be- 



THE iSSS ELECTION CAMPAIGN. 200 

tween that country and Great Britain, and directly 
and indirectly imputed insincerity to the United 
States in its actions in settlement of these ques- 
tions. 

Into the trap set by this letter (if trap it was, 
as many suspected), Minister West fell, and 
answered at some length, stating that '* any polit- 
ical party which openly favors the mother country 
at the present moment w^ould lose popularity, and 
the party in power is fully aware of that fact." In 
respect to the " questions with Canada which have 
been unfortunately re-opened since the rejection 
of the (fisheries) treaty by the Republican majority 
in the Senate, and by the President, to which you 
allude, . . . allowances must be made for the 
poliiical situation as regards the Presidential 
election.'' 

This correspondence was published in full. It 
probably had been intended for publication as a 
campaign document, and it had its effect upon 
both parties. Although Minister West had 
spoken with some reserve, and had sought to 
avoid openly expressing preferences for either 
party, yet he evidently had, while representing a 
foreign country, taken It upon himself to give ad- 
vice on political questions to American citizens, 
and the feeling of indignation which his letter 
aroused, was widespread. 

This indignation was shared by President 
Cleveland. He regarded Minister West's reply 



-200 L^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

as an unwarrantable interference in the politics of 
this country, by giving political advice to Ameri- 
can citizens, and he immediately notified the Brit- 
ish Government of the action of its Minister. The 
g-overnment of Great Britain showed an inclina- 
tion to pursue its usual policy of procrastination. 
No notice was taken of President Cleveland's 
protest. After waiting a reasonable time for 
action, he took a second step which somewhat 
astonished and baffled Great Britain. On Oc- 
tober 30th, six: days after the publication of the 
letter, he notified Minister West that his presence 
in Washington as the representative of Great 
Britain to this country was no longer agreeable 
to this government, and directed that his pass- 
ports should be delivered to him. 

This decisive action cut the orordian knot of the 
difficulty. The British lion now found a tongue, 
and denounced this action as marked by undue 
haste and a lack of international courtesy. The 
President, however, was resolute. He had given 
sufficient time for an answer in some form to his 
first communication, and as none came, he tOv)k 
the course demanded by the dignity of this coun- 
try, and sent the British Minister home to take 
lessons for himself in international courtesy. The 
government across the waters could say nothing. 
President Cleveland's action was abundantly jus- 
tified. But Great Britain's rulers kept up a show 
of irritation, and, as punishment to this upstart 




SENAFOR WADE HAMPTON. 



THE iSSS E LECTIO y CAMPAIGN. nQ\ 

nation, refused to send a Minister to the United 
States durino- the remainder of the Cleveland ad- 
ministration — a deprivation which this country 
bore with philosophical fortitude and equanimity. 
The President's action in this matter, as we have 
said, was sustained by all classes and parties in 
tliis country. Whether the underlying purpose 
of the Murchison letter was to injure the Repub- 
lican or the Democratic party, whether it was 
intended as a trap for the British Minister or was 
an honest seeking for information, all felt that an 
effort of a forei^rn Minister to orive advice on a 
subject solely belonging to American interests, 
and calculated to affect the make-up of the Amer- 
ican Goverament, was a gross breach of privilege, 
and had been dealt with in the only manner in 
which such an interference could be handled. As 
a campaign document the letter fell flat. Ameri- 
can citizens did not ask to be instructed from 
England how to manage their government, or 
deposit their votes, and people and press alike 
sustained President Cleveland in his decisive 
action. 

THE ELECTION CONTEST. 

In theelection campaign Cleveland took no active 
part. He was content that his record should 
speak for him. The people of the United States 
did not need to be told how he stood on the lead- 
inor questions of the day, or what would be his 
policy if elected. They had had four years' 



OQ2 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

demonstration of that. Wo. could safely rest upon 
his record as President, and let that speak for 
him. As the date of election drew near, it became 
evident that the contest would be a close one. 
The attention of both parties was directed to the 
doubtful States of New York, Connecticut, New 
Jersey, and Indiana, whither the speakers were 
sent, and strenuous efforts made to win votes. 
When the result was announced, it appeared that 
two of the States in question, New Jersey and 
Connecticut had gone for Cleveland ; but Indiana, 
Harrison's own State, and New York, with its 
large electoral vote, had gone Republican. The 
result was that Harrison had received 233 electoral 
votes, and Cleveland 168, and that tl^e office had 
once more fallen to a Republican President Yet 
had the voice of the people decided the contest, 
Grover Cleveland would have filled the Presiden- 
tial chair for the four succeeding years. The total 
popular vote was 5,538,233 for Cleveland, and 
5,440,216 for Harrison, Cleveland thus having a 
majority of 98,01 7. This is not the first time that 
such a result has happened, and a Republican 
President been seated when his Democratic oppo- 
nent was the actual choice of the people. It is a 
state of affairs that cannot well be obviated while 
the existing system of voting for electors continues, 
and one which strongly demands a change in our 
election laws, which will do away with this anti- 
quated and roundabout system, one which in 



THE iSSS ELECT! OX CAMPAIGN. ^q-, 

truth never had any rational warrant for Its ex- 
istence. 

The result of the election was duly annourced, 
as by law provided, and Congress assembleci for 
that purpose, received the record of the electoral 
vote, and notified the country that Benjamin Harri- 
son had been duly elected President of the Uni- 
ted States, in accordance with the requirements 
of the Constitution, for the ensuing four years. A 
minority of the people had ousted Cleveland from 
the seat which he had filled with such credit to 
himself and his party, and restored the Republican 
rule. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE END OF THE CENTURY. 

THE close of the Cleveland administration 
had a significance which calls for some 
consideration. It marked the close of 
the first century of the constitutional existence 
of the United States. This century began with 
George Washington in the Presidential office ; it 
ended with Grover Cleveland. The two men, 
while strikingly unlike in history and character, 
had this resemblance, that they were both un- 
doubtedly honest in their administration of the 
public affairs, and both inspired by the highest 
sentiments of patriotism and of duty in the high 
office which had been entrusted to them. The 
century begun and ended with a worthy occupant 
of the Executive position. 

The fact above alluded to, of the approaching 
end of the century, was taken advantage of by 
President Cleveland in his last annual message to 
Congress. He recalled the interestinor fact to the 
attention of the members, and took the opportu- 
nity to address to them and to the country at 
lar'^e words of warninor and advice which are 
well wortli repeating. We therefore copy at 
304 



THE END OF THE CENTURY. oqk 

some length from the lessons of political wisdom 
and earnest appeal to American citizens and law- 
makers which are embodied in the opening 
portions of this admirable document. It is dated 
December 3d, 1888, and begins as follows: 
**To THE Congress of the United States : 

"As you assemble for the discharge of the 
duties you have assumed as the representatives 
of a free and generous people, your meeting is 
marked by an interesting and impressive incident. 
With the expiration of the present session of the 
Congress, the first century of our constitutional 
existence as a nation will be completed. 

** Our survival for one hundred years is not 
sufficient to assure us that we no lonirer have 
dangers to fear in the maintenance, with all its 
promised blessings, of a government founded 
upon the freedom of the people. The time rather 
admonishes us soberly to inquire whether in the 
past we have always closely kept in the path of 
safety, and whether we have before us a way 
plain and clear, which leads to happiness and 
perpetuity. 

"When the experiment of our Government 
was undertaken, the chart adopted for our guid- 
ance was the Constitution. Departure from the 
lines there laid down is failure. It is only by a 
strict adherence to the direction they indicate, 
and by restraint within the limitations they fix, 
that we can furnish proof to the world of the 



-^q5 life of G rover CLEVELAND. 

fitness of the American people for self-govern- 
ment. 

" The equal and exact justice of which we boast 
as the underlying principle of our Institutions 
should not be confined to the relations of our 
citizens to each other. The Government itself is 
under bond to the American people that In the 
exercise of its functions and powers it will deal 
with the body of our citizens in a manner scrupu- 
lously honest and fair and absolutely just. It Is 
agreed that American citizenship shall be the only 
credential necessary to justify the claim of equality 
before the law, and that no condition in life shall 
give rise to discrimination in the treatment of the 
people by their Government. 

"The citizen of our Republic In its early days 
rigidly insisted upon full compliance with the 
letter of this bond, and saw stretching out before 
him a clear field for Individual endeavor. His 
tribute to the support of his Government was 
measured by the cost of its economical main- 
tenance, and he was secure In the enjoyment of 
the remaining recompense of his steady and con- 
tented toil. In those days, the frugality of the 
people was stamped upon their Government, and 
was enforced by the free, thoughtful, and Intelli- 
gent suffrao^e of the citizen. Combinations, 
monopolies, and aggregations of capital were 
either avoided or sternly regulated and restrained. 
The pomp and glitter of Governments less free 



THE E.VD OF THE CENTURY. y^^ 

offered no temptation, and presented no delusion 
to the plain people, who, side by side, in friendly 
competition, wrought for the ennoblement and 
dignity of man, for the solution of the problem of 
free government, and for the achievement of the 
grand destiny awaiting the land which God had 
given them. 

"A century has passed. Our cities are the 
abiding places of wealth and luxury; our manu- 
factures yield fortunes never dreamed of by the 
fathers of the Republic ; our business men are 
madly striving in the race for riches, and immense 
aggregations of capital outrun the imagination in 
the magnitude of their operations. 

We view with pride and satisfaction the picture 
of our country's growth and prosperity, while only 
a closer scrutiny develops a sombre shading. 
Upon more careful inspection, we find the wealth 
and luxury of our cities mingled with poverty and 
wretchedness and unremunerative toil. A crowded 
and constantly increasing urban population sug- 
gests the impoverishment of rural sections and 
discontent with agricultural pursuits. The farmer's 
son, not satisfied with his father's simple and 
laborious life, joins the eager chase for easily- 
acquired wealth. 

" We discover that the fortunes realized by our 
manufacturers are no longer solely the reward of 
sturdy industry and enlightened foresight, but 
that they result from the discriminating favor of 



-,q3 lire of grove R CLEVELAND. 

the Government, and are largely built upon undue 
exactions from the masses of our people. The 
gulf between employers and the employed is con- 
stantly widening, and classes are rapidly forming, 
one comprising the very rich and powerful, while 
in another are found the toiling poor. 

*' As we view the achievements of acrcrrecrated 
capital, we discover the existence of trusts, com- 
binations, and monopolies, while the citizen is 
struggling far in the rear, or is trampled to death 
beneath an iron heel. Corporations, v/hich should 
be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and 
the servants of the people, are fast becoming the 
people's masters. 

*' Still congratulating ourselves upon the wealth 
and prosperity of our country, and complacently 
contemplating every incident of change insepara- 
ble from these conditions, it is our duty as patri- 
otic citizens to Inquire, at the present stage of our 
progress, how the bond of the Government made 
with the people has been kept and performed. 

" Instead of Hmiting the tribute drawn from our 
citizens to the necessities of its economical admin- 
istration, the Government persists in exacting 
from the substance of the people, millions which, 
unapplied and useless, lie dormant in the Treas- 
ury. This flagrant injustice, and this breach of 
faith and obligation, add to extortion the danger 
attending the diversion of the currency of the 
country from the legitimate channels of business. 



THE END OF THE CENTURY. -qq 

" Under the same laws by which these results 
are produced, the Government permits many 
millions more to be added to the cost of living of 
our people, and to be taken from our consumers, 
which unreasonably swell the profics of a small 
b t powerful minority. 

" rhe people must still be taxed for the support 
of the Government under the operation of tariff 
laws. But to the extent that the means of our 
citizens are inordinately burdened beyond any 
useful public service, and for the benefit of a fav- 
ored few, the Government, under pretense of an 
exercise of its taxing powers, enters gratuitously 
into a partnership with these favorites, to their 
advantage and to the injury of a vast majority of 
our people. 

" This is not equality before the law. . . . 

" The grievances of diose not included within 
tlie circle of these beneficiaries, when fully real- 
ized, will surely arouse irritation and discontent. 
Onr farmers, lonor-sufferinor and patient, struo-crlincr 
in the race of life with the hardest and most unre- 
mitting toil, will not fail to see, in spite of misrep- 
resentations and misleading fallacies, that they 
are obliged to accept such prices for their products 
as are fixed in foreign markets where tliey com- 
pete with the farmers of the world ; that their 
lands are declining in value while their debts 
increase, and that without compensatory favor, 
they are forced by the action of the Government 



^jQ LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 

to pay for the benefit of others such enhanced 
prices for the things they need that the scanty 
returns of their labor fail to furnish their support, 
or leave no margin for accumulation. 

*' Our workinofnien, enfranchised from all delu- 
sions, and no longer frightened by the cry that 
their wages are endangered by a just revision of 
our tariff laws, will reasonably demand, through 
such revison, steadier employment, cheaper means 
of living in their homes, freedom for themselves 
and their children from the doom of perpetual 
servitude, and an open door to their advancement 
beyond the limits of a laboring class. Others of 
our citizens, whose comfort and expenditure are 
measured by moderate salaries and fixed incomes, 
will insist upon the fairness and justice of cheap- 
ening the cost of necessaries for themselves and 
their families. . . . 

*' Communism is a hateful thing, and a 
menace to peaceful and organized government. 
But the communism of combined wealth and cap- 
ital, the outgrowth of everweening cupidity and 
selfishness, which insidiously undermines the jus- 
tice and integrity of free institutions, is not less 
dangerous than the communism of oppressed 
poverty and toil, which, exasperated by injustice 
and discontent, attacks with wild disorder the 
citadel of rule. 

" He mocks the people who proposes t^at the 
Government shall protect the rich, and tlic-^ they 



THE END OF THE CEXTXJR Y. -, j j 

in turn will care for the laboring poor. Any 
inrennedJling between the people and their Gov- 
erninjiit, or the least delegation of the care and 
protection the Government owes to the humblest 
citizen In the land, makes the boast of free insti- 
tutions a glittering delusion, and the pretended 
boon of American citizenship a shameless imposi- 
tion." 

The message goes on to point out the need of 
a just revision of our tariff laws, and a reduction 
of our revenue sufficient to prevent extravagance 
and a demoralizing appropriation of public money, 
and sueeests the dano^er of fosterinof the idea that 
the Government exists as a charitable Institution 
for the benefit of localities and individuals. It 
makes a strong objection to the intrusion of 
Federal legislation upon the domains of State and 
local legislation, and proceeds : 

" The preservation of the partitions between 
proper subjects of Federal and local care and 
regulation Is of such Importance under the Con- 
stitution, which Is the law of your very existence, 
that no consideration of expediency or senti- 
ment should tempt us to enter upon doubtful 
ground. We have undertaken to discover and 
proclaim the richest blessings of a free govern- 
ment with the Constitution as our guide. Let us 
follow the way it points out. It will not mislead 
us. And surely no one who has taken upon him- 
self the solemn obligation to support and preserve 



-j2 ^^^^ ^^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

the Constitution will find justification or solace for 
disloyalty in the excuse that he wandered and dis- 
obeyed in search of a better way to reach the pub- 
lic welfare than the Constitution offers. 

" What has been said is deemed not inappro- 
priate at a time when, from a century's height, we 
view the way already trodden by the American 
people, and attempt to discover their future path." 

Such a presentation of the industrial condition 
of the American people, of the dangers facing 
them, of the oppression to which they have been 
subjected by organized wealth, and of the perils 
likely to attend an unlimited increase of individual 
capital, and the extravagance Induced by an over- 
flowing Treasury, had never before been offered 
by an American President for the consideration of 
thoughtful and far-seeing citizens, and its repro- 
duction here seems appropriate, as President 
Cleveland's farewell message of wisdom to the 
intelligence of the country. 

THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS. 

That this message should have any effect upon 
the deliberations of Cono^ress was not to be ex- 
pected Concrresses are rarely made up of advo- 
cates of national reform, or of men educated In 
the higher lessons of political economy, but ordi- 
narily consist in large part of log-rolling politicians, 
purblind partisans, and men In whose eyes local 
interests are so lars^e as to shut out the view of 



THE EA'D OF THE CENTUR Y ^ j ^ 

the whole country ; and in a small minority of 
men devoted to the best interests of the country 
and of mankind at large. Congress, therefore, in 
its ordinary fashion, shutting its ears to the words 
of wisdom which had been addressed to it, pro- 
ceeded to debate questions of party politics and 
immediate expediency, leaving all larger questions 
to outwork themselves in God's good time and 
way. 

It was the second session of the Fiftieth Con- 
gress, its term ending March 4th, 1889, at the con- 
clusion, as the President had said, of the country's 
first century of existence. No subjects of vital 
importance came before it, and the relations of 
President and Congress were generally harmoni- 
ous. Of the bills passed, the most important 
were those admitting to the Union the States of 
North and South Dakota, Washington, and Mon- 
tana; inaugurating the Nicaragua Canal Com- 
pany ; amending the Interstate Commerce Law, 
and refundinor to the States the direct tax levied 
by the Government in 1861. All these, with the 
exception of the last nam^d, were promptly signed 
by the President. The last he returned with a 
veto. As this veto was signed March 2d, 1889, 
and was President Cleveland's final official act of 
importance, we give here part of the text of his 
messaee, showing his reasons for withhoklingr his 
official sanction to the bill. The history of the bill 
was as follows : 



n^A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

On A'l^ust 5th, 1861, Con'^ress, feeling the ne- 
cessity of meeting the rapidly-growing need of 
money, had passed an Act laying a direct tax upon 
the people of the country, but leaving the collec- 
tion of it to the States, In case they were willing 
to undertake it. Of recent years it had been ad- 
vanced as an axiom by many members of the 
Republican party that this money properly be- 
loncred to the States, and that it was the dutv of 
the general Government to return it to them. 
Accordingly, in the session of Congress with 
which we are now concerned, a bill was passed 
ordering the refunding of this money to the several 
States, to be held In trust for Its return to the 
citizens from wliom it was originally collected. 

This bill President Cleveland vetoed, crlvInQr die 
following reasons for his action : The tax, he said, 
had not been laid by Congress upon the States, 
but directly upon the people, and was an exercise 
of the constitutional right of the Government to 
tax its citizens, which called for no reversal of 
action. There was no more occasion for Its return 
than for the return of any other tax. The States 
and Territories had been given the privilege of 
collecting their quota of the tax in their own way, 
or of offsetting it by claims of their own against 
the Government. Most of the States accepted 
this provision, collecting the money from Individual 
citizens, as the Government Itself would otherwise 
have done. The President did not think that this 



THE END OF THE CENTUR Y. -^ j -- 

was In any way a debt due by die Government to 
the States, as the refundinor bill suorirested. If due 
to anybody, it was to the citizens from whom col- 
lected, but it did not properly appear to be due to 
an)- body. 

'' The expenditure," continued the President, 
" cannot properly be advocated on the ground that 
the general welfare of the United States is thereby 
provided for or promoted. A sheer, ba.ld gratuity, 
bestowed either upon States or individuals, based 
upon no other reason than supports the gift pro- 
posed in this bill, has never been claimed to be a 
provision for the general welfare. The Direct 
Tax law of 1861 is n )t even suspected of inva- 
lidity; there never was a tax levied that was more 
needed, and its justice cannot be questioned. 
Why, then, should it be returned? 

" Nor have the States any claim to it as such. 
The citizens gave it ; the States do not propose 
to search them out and return it to them. The 
existence of a surplus in the Treasury is no 
answer to these objections. It is still the people's 
money, and better use can be found for it than 
the distribution of it upon the plan of the reim- 
bursement of ancient taxation. . . . 

''I am constrained upon the considerations 
here presented to withhold my assent from the 
bill herewith returned, because I believe it to be 
without constitutional warrant; because I am of 
the opinion that there exist no adequate reasons, 



^T/^ LIFE OF GROVE R CLE VELA AD. 

either In right or equity, for the return of the tax 
In said bill mentioned, and because I believe its 
execution would cause actual injustice and un- 
fairness. ' 

*' Grover Cleveland. 
** Executive Mansion, March 2d, 1889." 

This veto killed the bill for the time being-. It 
was passed over the veto in the Senate, but failed 
to be brought up in the House. It is well here 
to state, in conclusion of this subject, that this 
mode of getting rid of a Treasury surplus, checked 
by the action of President Cleveland, was accom- 
plished in the next Congress, under a Republican 
administration. A similar bill was passed by the 
Senate during the first session of the Fifty-first 
Congress, and by the House on February 4th, 
1 89 1, during the second session, and became a 
law by the signature of President Harrison. As 
finally passed it provides that the money repaid 
to the States and Territories shall be held in trust 
for the benefit of the individuals from whom it 
was collected. Six years are allowed to file 
claims. Any portion of it not claimed by that 
time becomes tlie property of the State. In view 
of the ravages of death, and the many changes 
which have taken place within the past 30 years, 
the probability is that the claims will be few, and 
the States will fall heir to the bulk of this money. 

This veto, as we have said, was the last im- 
portant official act of President Cleveland. Two 




WILLIAM L. WILSON. 
(Permanent Chairman of Nominating Convention.) 



THE END OF THE CENTUR Y. -> i 7 

days afterward, on March 4th, 1889, he surren- 
dered the office of President and the executive 
mansion to his successor, and retired to private 
Hfe, having made himself a name for unflinching 
honesty and a high sense of official responsibility 
during his Presidential career, which will live long 
in history, and place his record among that of the 
American Presidents most noted for probity and 
non-partisan public spirit. 



CHAPTER XX. 

IN PRIVATE LIFE. 

IN the whole history of mankind there have 
been few stories as remarkable as that of 
Grover Cleveland. In 1880, a private citizen 
of an interior city, of no higher public importance 
than any other of the 50,000,000 inhabitants of 
the United States; in. 1884, the President of the 
greatest republic the world has ever known, the 
elected ruler of the most prosperous nation upon 
the o-lobe. It seemed almost the work of maoric. 
No doubt Dame Fortune had a hand in it, but 
character had as much, and the admiration of the 
American people for unapproachable integrity in 
office had the most. It was his record for un- 
flinching honesty and a high public spirit as Mayor 
of Buffalo that in two years made him Governor 
of New York, that stepping-stone to the Presi- 
dency of the United States. His integrity and 
ability in this office gave him the nomination for 
President, and the Democratic party carried him 
successfully into this exalted office, though his 
opponent was the most eminent statesman in the 
Republican ranks. 

Four years had now passed, during which 
President Cleveland had shown such ability, in- 

318 



rN PRIVA TE L IfE. ^ j g 

tegrlty, and single-souled devotion to duty as to 
make him the favorite of his party, and their can- 
didate for the two ensuingr terms. Yet it was 
doubtless with a sense of rehef that he resio-ned 
to his successor the cares and duties of office, and 
retired to private hfe, seeking rest from the inces- 
sant labors of his Presidential service. 

On leaving Washington, however, the ex- 
President had no thought of pursuing an idle life. 
The instinct of work, the American delioht in oc- 
cupation, was too strong in him for that, and he, 
without loss of time, resumed the practice of his 
old profession. Seeking the city of New York, 
he opened a law office on Madison Avenue, and 
during the last four years the practice of law in 
the New York courts has been his held of labor. 

As regards Mr. Cleveland's private means, it 
may be said that he saved no orreat sum out of 
his Presidential salary; but, on the other hand, 
he made fortunate investments, some of them by 
the advice of Mr. Whitney, so that he had a for- 
tune of about $200,000. His wife's wealth was 
considerably larger than this, but this Mr. Cleve- 
land would never touch, his sole relation to It 
being advice in regard to Investments. His 
wife's wealth, in his opinion, was her own, and it 
was his duty to pay his own way through the 
world. 

He had hopes of adding considerably to his for- 
tune through the profits of his legal practice, 



-^20 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

which he entered upon with some enthuslasin. 
These hopes have not been reahzed. His pro- 
fessional business has not been large, pardy from 
the fact that he has kept clear from connection 
with those great corporations which might have 
thrown very profitable business into his hands. 
He has received retainers Irom some of these 
associations, but has invariably declined them. 

He conducted one important case, in his first 
year's practice, appearing in the Supreme Court 
of die Uiiited States. Here the judges received 
him with every manifestation of high considera- 
tion, but he lost the case. Since then his busi- 
ness has consisted largely In what are called 
" references." This Is a species of office practice 
which is not very consplcuou:: or ex.iilarating, but 
It does not pay badly, and demands that steady 
attention to detail and patient labor which has 
distinguished Mr. Cleveland, alike in public ani 
private life. It Is said that his Income from his 
profession has been from ^20,ooc) to ^25,000 a 
year, no more than enough to meet his family 
necessities In the style in which he is obliged to 
live. 

During Mr. Cleveland's New York life he has 
taken pains to keep clear of entangling polidcal 
alliances, and to avoid intimacy with men or con- 
nection with cliques which would be likely to 
injure him In public opinion. That he had this In 
view, however. Is questionable. No doubt his 



IN PRIVATE LIFE, -,21 

natural abhorrence of political jobbery or trickery 
has kept him from any such dubious connections. 
Of his various city intimates, who include a num- 
ber of prominent men, the most prominent has 
been ex-Mayor Grace. No man has been seen 
more often at the house and In the office of Mr. 
Cleveland, and the friendship between the two 
men has been unbroken by a woid of discord. 

Cleveland has shown himself a companionable 
man, not much of a reader, but a good listener, 
one who knows how to hear and digest other 
men's opinions, and to take good advice from 
whatever quarter - it may come. His political 
creed has been a simple one : to do what he 
thouorht to be rlo^ht without re^rard to what men 
might say, but to use his utmost endeavors to 
widen his knowledge and improve his judgment 
as to the right and wrong of political questions. 

When In the Presidential chair it was suggested 
to him that he ought to use his power to put an 
end to Governor Hill's Influence in New York 
politics; to crush him, in short. He replied to 
the politician who had suggested It: "This crush- 
ing Is likely to be an ugly business. I won't 
undertake it. A oood many men have due their 
graves in their efforts to crush others." Here we 
have a political manual in a nut-shell. 

Mr. Cleveland, however, has not hesitated to 
express his opinion on political questions during 
his private life, and has always done so with that 



^2 2 ^-^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

pithy honesty which will cling to him through life. 
His motto has bticn, '' What I think right/' not 
"how many votes may it cost." During his four 
years' life as a lawyer, he has appeared at various 
times at public dinners and elsewhere, where he 
has not hesitated in the free expression of his 
opinion. Thus, at the Mercantile Club Dinner, 
at Boston, December 12th, 1889, ^^^ spoke in the 
most uncompromising terms in favor of Civil 
Service Reform and of the Australian secret 
ballot. 

In regard to this system, he said that the official 
ballot is the '* vital principle of the (ballot) re- 
form." To permit the use of an unofficial ballot 
" would leave the door as wide open as ever to 
bribery and corruption," arid an "official ballot 
only would sweep away to a very great extent, if 
not entirely, all excuse for campaign funds — that 
fruitful source of bribery and corruption, for if the 
State paid all the expenses of the election there 
would be little plea to levy assessments upon 
candidates, and contributions from interested 
outsiders. "- 

The public utterance of Mr. Cleveland that has 
attracted most viridespread attention, however, 
came in the form of a letter, in which he took 
open ground against the free coinage of silver. 
This letter will be allowed to speak for itself: 
" E. Ellery Anderson, Esq. 

" My Dear Sir. — I have this afternoon re- 



IN PRIVA TE LIFE. ^21 

celved your note inviting me to attend to-morrow 
evening a meeting called for the purpose of voic- 
ing the opposition of the business men of our city 
to ' free coinage of silver In the United States.' I 
shall not be able to attend and address the meet- 
ing as you request, but I am glad that the busi- 
ness interests of New York are at last to be 
heard on the subject. It surely cannot be neces- 
sary for me to make a formal expression of my 
acrreement with those who believe that the oreat- 
est perils would be invited by the adoption of the 
scheme embraced in the measure now pending in 
Congress for an unlimited coinage of silver at our 
mints. 

" If we have developed an unexpected capacity 
for the assimilation of a largely Increased volume 
of the currency, and even If we have demonstrated 
the usefulness of such an increase, these condi- 
tions fall far short of insurinor us against disaster 
if In the present situation we enter upon the dan- 
gerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited, 
and independent silver coinage. 

" Yours very truly, 

**Grover Cleveland. 
"February loth, 1891." 

This letter caused no small sensation. It was 
commented upon in all quarters, some persons 
asserting that the ex-President had destroyed all 
hope of a renomlnatlon, though In the East his 
letter was applauded by men of all parties. It 



^24. ^^P^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

was said that nothing else could have been ex- 
pected from Mr. Cleveland. As to its effect, he 
has been re-nominated on a platform which ex- 
presses virtually similar views, and since the Con- 
vention the hopes of the free silver advocates 
have been dashed by a decisively adverse vote in 
Congress. The United States is safe from free 
silver coinage for a year to come. 

We have said that Mr. Cleveland is a compan- 
ionable man. He likes to have good fellows 
around him, and is utterly unassuming, unpreten- 
tious, and eenial in his dealintrs with his associates. 
As regards his social habits, he has improved 
under the influence of his wife. His bachelor life 
at Buffalo was not calculated to teach him the 
manners of polished society, and Mrs. Cleveland 
has in some respects made another man of him. 
She has in New York arranged little dinner par- 
ties, where he met men and women of otlier than 
political influence, intercourse with whom has had 
a softenmg and broa lening effect which he was 
not likely to gain in official life. 

Among those intimate friends whom he owes 
to his wife's influence are the the editors of two 
of our great illustrated monthlies, men whose 
society he thoroughly enjoys, and whose conver- 
sation has opened to him a broad new field of life 
beyond the domain of politics. 

To one of these men, Mr. Gilder, of The 
Century, he owes his introduction to a domain of 



IN PRIVATE LIFE. ^2^ 

enjo^'ment which has been an unending source of 
deho^ht to him. Mr. Cleveland's business has 
not been one that kept him tied to the office. He 
has had abundant leisure for recreation, and this 
recreation has largely taken the form of fishing, 
of which he is very fond. Formerly he looked 
upon the Adirondacks as the ideal place of re- 
pose ; largely for the opportunities of trout fish- 
ing wdiich it presented. But this w^oodland dis- 
trict has its drawbacks, largely in the form of 
black flies, and our ardent sportsman often felt 
that its misery outweighed its enjoyments. 

He has reformed all that. The sea is now his 
chosen place of resort, and deep-sea fishing his 
delight. How this chancre came about is the sub- 
stance of the story we have next to tell. 

Joe Jefferson, the " Rip Van Winkle " of theat- 
rical fame, had become possessed of a property 
on Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts, where the ad- 
joining waters offered excellent sea-bass fishing. 
Mr. Gilder, who had been touched with the same 
fever, Invited Mr. Cleveland to take a summer's 
vacation in that breezy district. Here he was 
taken out to fish for sea-bass, and he found the 
sport so exhilarating and the sea breezes so in- 
vieoratinor that he became fascinated with the 
pursuit, and incontinently deserted the Adiron- 
dacks for this new world of sport. 

Joe Jefferson, as we have said, w^as one of the 
club of Buzzard Bay fishermen. Mr. Cleveland 



^26 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

made his acquaintance, and soon began to enjoy 
Jefferson as much as he did the fishing. There 
was here no talk of poHtics, and no suggestion of 
business Hfe. The conversation was confined 
to fishing chat, social subjects, and a free spice of 
that fund of anecdote, humorous and dramatic, 
which Jefferson has in his mental store-house, 
and which his visitor delighted to hear. Jefferson, 
moreover, was a good sportsman, a fact which 
endeared him the more to the sport-loving ex- 
President, and the two men have become intimate 
associates. Of other men whom he has met there 
may be named Edwin Booth, who shared this 
intimacy ; and Mr. E. C. Benedict, the Wall Street 
broker, a gentleman who is an enthusiastic lover 
of the game of cribbage. As Cleveland enjoys 
the same game, the representatives from Wall 
Street and from the White House have spent 
manv a nicrht over the cribbaore board, as intent on 
the fortunes of the eame as thouirh the fate of 

CD O 

the nation or the money market depended 
upon it. 

As regards Mr. Cleveland's abilities as a fisher- 
man and his powers as a philosopher, Mr. Jeffer- 
son has recently made the following appreciative 
remarks : 

'' Great men are apt to be good fishermen. 
Yju can judge a man's characteristics better 
wlien you fish with him than under almost any 
other conditions. Mr. Cleveland Is an eminent 



IN PR 1 1 \4 TE L IFE. ^27 

philosopher and a profound thinker. He is a 
Sherman, consequently, of a high order, as emi- 
nent philosophers generally are. He fishes with 
a rod in a scientific manner, and possesses the 
art of cajoling a bass to his hook with almost ab- 
solute certainty. 

''Mr. Cleveland, Mr. Gilder, of the Century 
Magazine, my son, and myself own a lake and 
three islands at Marsh Pee on Cape Cod. We 
named them in spirit of mild satire, after the 
name of the capes^ which very frequently termi- 
nate in ' it ;' for instance, Manomit, Cotonit, and 
Naquissit. The islands' names are Getonit, 
Notinit, and Comofifit. 

" Some of the hshino^ that I have seen Mr. 
Cleveland do in the vicinity of our camping 
grounds at Marsh Pee would sound so incredible 
that I do not wish to peril my reputation as a re- 
liable relator of piscatorial anecdotes. During 
our great raids on the finny tribe, Mr. Cleveland 
observed that wide reticence that indicates an in- 
terest in the sport — complacency and peace and 
harmony with all mankind." 

Mr. Cleveland's prowess as a fisherman Is said 
to be remarkable. At the end of a troll line, or 
In landing a 20-pound striped bass, he displays 
all the patience and self-control of a statesman. 
His catch is at times phenomenal. Seventy- five 
blue fish in a day are recorded of him. Yet he 
can wait all day in patience for a bite, without a 



^28 ^^^^ CF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

word of complaint If none comes. His friends, in 
fact, speak of him as an ideal fisherman, and one 
"who tells the absolute truth about his catch — an 
extraordinary evidence of virtue in a fisherman. 

Mr. Cleveland is Mr. Jefferson's neighbor in 
another sense than as a visitor. He has acquired 
a property of his own on Buzzard's Bay, and 
** Gray Gables," as his residence is christened, is 
now his summer house. 

The house in question is near the village of 
Bourne, a place "delightful to travel//^;;/." Ex- 
ternally it is not attractive. Trees are conspicu- 
ous by their absence, the house is bare and 
exposed, and its prevailing gray hue is not 
particularly beautiful. It is a quaindy-shaped 
mansion, abundant in gables, from which, and Its 
dusty color, it derives its name. 

Internally Gray Gables is said to be delightfully 
attractive. The rooms are finished in natural 
woods, each room having Its own particular wood 
— oak, cherr)^ spruce, etc. — and the general effect 
is very agreeable. The leading architectural fea- 
ture Is the hall, which Is of magnificent propor- 
tions. Its walls run up to the roof, a height of 
1 8 or 20 feet, and are broken midway by an airy 
balcony, which communicates with the stairs, and 
from which access Is gained to the chambers, 
which are tucked cozily away beneath the gables. 

There are no carpets on the floors. Mats take 
their place. Bits of tapestry and needlework are 



LV PRIVA TE L IFE. ^ ^ q 

used freely as ornaments. Everywhere are easy 
seats, cosy nooks, soft rugs, cool rooms ; and 
altogether, between the architect's taste in build- 
ing and Mrs. Cleveland's genius in furnishing 
and adorning, Gray Gables constitutes as attract- 
ive a summer residence as even an ex- President 
could covet. 

Mrs. Cleveland is not given to the piscatorial 
art. She rarely indulges in what is her husband's 
absorbing passion, though on one occason in 
which she was induced to do so, the story goes 
that she greitly astonished Mr. Cleveland by her 
remarkable run of luck. Fish after fish came up 
at the end of her line, while he sat in gloomv 
silence without a nibble. He felt forced to con- 
gratulate his wife on her success, yet it was a 
rather awkward situation for a crack fisherman to 
find himself in It was not until theday*s sport 
was over that the truth came out. The fun-lov- 
ing woman had bribed the man who prepared 
their lines to make hers specially attractive, and 
to fix Mr. Cleveland's so that the bass would have 
no inducement to bite. The result was a hearty 
lau'^h at the disappointed fisherman. 

The story, in its way, has a certain affinity to 
that told by Plutarch, of Cleopatra and Mark 
Antony, in which Antony having ill-luck as an 
angler, hired divers to place fish on his hook. 
Cleopatra saw through this trick, and the next 
day turned the tables on him by hiring a diver to 



^^O ^^^"^ OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

place on his hook a salt fish from Pontus, laugh- 
ing heartily at the discomfited angler as he drew 
this up. 

There is another inmate of Gray Gables of 
whom we have ngt spoken, but who certainly 
deserves a paragraph. Baby Ruth, who came 
into this world in October, 1891, has not yet 
rounded her first year as a citizeness of this great 
republic, yet she has already gained as great a 
host of admirers as either of her parents. So far 
this admiration is wasted on this very young lady, 
but the time is cominqr in which she will know 
what it all means. 

A few words are here in place in regard to the 
personal appearance and quahties of the man who 
is again presented as the candidate of the Demo- 
cratic party. Mr. Cleveland is a little under six 
feet in height, but is so heavily built that he looks 
of less stature. His weight is about 250 pounds : 
his hair is scant, he wears a lio^ht mustache ; the 
lines of his face are deeply graven, and his ordi- 
nary aspect is that of a grave and serious man, 
easily lighted by a gleam of humor or a kindly 
feeling. He generally dresses in a Prince Albert 
frock coat, but on informal occasions wears a gray 
business suit with cutaway or sack coat. 

In conversation, he is quiet, dignified, and self- 
possessed, a good listener, but not without a 
positive, and when necessary, a dogmatic manner. 
In public speech he is easy, self-contained, fluent, 



IX PRIVA TE LIFE. ^ ^ j 

and impressive. His personal qualities include a 
strong power of will, intiexible courage, and un- 
questionable honesty, which are not unmixed with 
a keen sense of humor, a sly sarcasm, and the 
generous sympathies of a warm heart. 

While in offi:e he, while untiringly industrious 
himself, expected the same industry in his subor- 
dinates. He would stay up late at night, if ne- 
cessar}^ to complete his tasks. He had an un- 
usual ability in mastering the details of a case, 
and not infrequently a member of the Cabinet, 
after submitting to him a matter in general, 
would find next day that its chief was familiar 
with all its details, which he had spent part of the 
night in acquiring. In this way he got through 
with enormous quantities of business, without ne- 
glect of the numerous social duties which his 
position as head of the Government exacted of 
him. 

With a high and even stern sense of official 
duty, his sympathies are easily aroused. In the 
circles where he is most intimately known are 
current many incidents testifying to the warmth 
of his generosity, his fidelity to his friends, and 
his sincere appreciation of the fireside virtues 
which alike adorn citizen and ruler. 

Of the President's great-grandfather, who died 
in Benjamin Franklin's house in 1757, that illus- 
trious man said: 

'' He is a gentleman easy and affable in his 



^^o LIFE OF GROVE R CLEVELAND. 

conversation, open and sincere in his friendship, 
and above any species of meanness and dissim- 
ulation.'* 

These quaUties have not been lost in the family 
inheritance. 




WM. M. SPRINGER. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION OF 1 892. 

THE city which had been chosen by the 
National Committee for the meeting of 
the Democratic National Convention of 
1892 was Chicago, the date June 21st. For the 
use of the Convention a large ''Wigwam" had 
been constructed, a huge frame building about 
300 feet long by 200 wide, with a seating capacity 
of nearly 20,000. The original plan contemplated 
a canvas roof, upheld by a single great pole in 
the centre of the building. Unluckily, shortly be- 
fore the day fixed for the meeting of the Conven- 
tion, Chicago was visited by one of those wild 
Western tornadoes which are no respectors of places 
or purposes, and the great canvas roof went off 
with a whirl. It was decided not to replace it, 
but to build a wooden roof, upheld by a forest of 
pillars from within. This work was barely 
finished when the opening day arrived, and proved 
to have two serious defects. The thick pillars 
interfered gready with the view, while the hastily 
constructed roof failed to be water-proof, and as 
it rained frequendy during the Convention, seats 
witliin the Wigwam often became the reverse of 
comfortable. 

333 



^^4 L IFE OF GK O \ FR CL E ICELAND. 

In this hucre thouorh leaky hall the deleeates 
beofan to assemble at 1 1 o'clock in the mornine 
of June 2 1 St, and ere long the immense building 
was well filled with delegates and spectators. 

After prayer by the Rev. John Ronso, the busi- 
ness of the Convention beo^an in the escortinof to 
the chair by Charles Jewett, Thomas Wilson, and 
Adlai E Stevenson of William C. Owens, of Ken- 
tucky, who had been chosen as temporary chair- 
man. After the applause which greeted his ap- 
pearance had subsided, he opened the Convention 
with a brief speech, from which we quote the most 
significant passages : 

" There are two grreat dangrers which menace 
the Democratic party — one is external, the other 
internal ; the first is the organized machinery of 
organized capital, supported by the whole power 
of the government ; the second is the tendency 
amonof Democrats to make issues amonor them- 
selves. Two needs, therefore, stand before us 
indispensable to success — unity and harmony. 
Of the one this chair and gavel stand representa- 
tive ; it remains for you to supply the other. . . . 

" We can succeed ; we must do more, we must 
deserve success. Above the wreck, if need be, 
of selfish combinations we must rear a temple to 
the plain people and build a shrine so broad that 
every lover of liis kind may kneel. The burden 
must be lifted from the back of toil, and to that 
end it has a rWai to demand that whoever bears 



CONVENTION CF i8g2. ^ ^ e 

our banner must lift It above the smoke of con- 
flict and the din of action, that every Democrat of 
the Union may follow its lead in exultant and In 
irresistible combat. Let us not mistake. The 
gravity of the situation demands the broadest pa- 
triotism and every needful sacrifice. Our work 
but begins here. Under the suns of summer and 
the frosts of autumn we must carry It forward 
with unfaltering courage to a triumphant close.'' 

The remalnlncT business of the first session was 
the appointment of Committees on Credentials, 
Rules and Order of Business, Permanent Oreanl- 
zatlon, and Resolutions, after which Mr. Cable, of 
Illinois, offered a resolution of sympathy with 
*' that distinguished American, James G. Blaine, 
in the heavy affliction which has befallen him " — 
the death of his son. This resolution was re- 
ceived with applause and passed unanimously, 
the Convention then adjourning. 

The second day's session began at 11.30 on 
Wednesday morning by a prayer from Rev. W. 
F. H. Henry, of Chicago. While waiting for re- 
ports from the committees the Convention was 
addressed by Senator Palmer, of Illinois, in a 
pleasant vein, that put the audience In excellent 
humor. "Select a solid, firm Democrat for this 
contest, put the banner In his hand, and then 
rally about him," he concluded. 

The Committee on Credentials now appeared, 
with a unanimous report ; after which the Com- 



^^5 ^^^^' ^^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

mittee on Permanent Organization reported the 
name of William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, for 
Permanent Chairman, S. P. Sheerin, of Wisconsin, 
for Permanent Secretary, and a list of names for 
the other officials of the Convention. Mr. Wilson 
was escorted to the platform by a committee ap- 
pointed for that purpose. After the applause 
which greeted his appearance had subsided, he 
arose and addressed the assembly. 

Mr. Wilson began his speech by thanking the 
delegates for the honor they had done him. 
"This Convention," he went on to say, " has a 
high and patriotic work to perform. We owe 
much to our party; we owe much to our country. 
The mission of the Democratic party is to fight 
for the under dog. When that party Is out of 
power we may be sure there Is an under dog to 
fight for, and that the under dog is generally the 
American people. Never was this truth brought 
home to us more defiantly than by the recent 
convention at Minneapolis. We are not de- 
ceived as to the temper, we are not in doubt as 
to the purpose of our opponents. Having taxed 
us for years without excuse and without mercy 
they now propose to disarm us of further power 
to resist their exactions." 

The Chairman next alluded to the question of 
tariff and taxation, the latter of which he desig- 
nated as the question around which all the great 
battles of freedom have been fouofht. The Re- 



CONVEXTION OF iSg2. ^^7 

publican Idea of reciprocity he stiginatlzed as 
retaliation, and retaliation on our own people. 
The Democratic party, he added, Is for the pro- 
tection that protects and for reciprocity that re- 
ciprocates. 

" It is not for me," he said in conclusion, " to 
attempt to foreshadow what your choice should 
or ought to be In the selection of your candidates. 
One thing only I venture to say. Whoever may 
be your chosen leader in this campaign no tele- 
crram will flash across the sea from the castle of 
absent tariff lords to conL^^ratulace him. But from 
the home of labor, from the fireside of \\\^ toller, 
from the hearts of all who love justice and equity, 
will come up prayers for his success and recruits 
for the great Democratic host th:it must strike 
down the beast of sectionalism and the Moloch 
of monopoly before we can have ever again a 
people's government run by a people's faithful 
representatives." 

The remaining business of the session was 
brief. The Committee on Resolutions was not 
yet ready to report. The report of the Commit- 
tee on Rules was received, the unit rule of voting 
being retained ; a gavel of zinc was presented to 
the Convention from the miners of Missouri ; the 
names of the members of the National Committee 
were presented ; and the Convention adjourned, 
to meet again at 5 o'clock that afternoon. 



338 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



THE PLATFORM. 

It was 5.35 P.M. when the duties of the Con- 
vention were resumed, by a prayer from Rev. 
Thomas Reed, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At 6.24, 
Charles H. Jones, of Missouri, Clialrman of the 
Committee on Resolutions, announced that the 
report of the committee was ready. At his request 
ex-Secretary Vilas read the report to the Con- 
vention. It opened as follows : 

"The representatives of the Democratic party 
of the United States, in national convention 
assembled, do reaffirm their alleo^iance to the 
principles of the party as formulated by Jefferson, 
and exemplified by the long and illustrious line of 
his successors in Democratic leadership, from 
Madison to Cleveland." 

It went on to denounce the centralizing tendency 
of the Government, with its menace to the reserved 
rlc^lits of the States, and spoke as follows of the 
-Force Bill:" 

"We warn the people of our common country, 
jealous for the preservation of their free institu- 
tions, that the policy of Federal control of elec- 
tions, to which the Republican party has committed 
itself, is fraught with the gravest dangers, scarcely 
less momentous than would result from a revolu- 
tion, practically establishing monarchy on the ruins 
of the Republic. It strikes at the North as well 
as the South, and Injures the colored citizens even 
more than the whites. It means a horde of Dep- 



CON VENTION OF i8g2. -2 ^ q 

uty Marshals at every polling place armed with 
Federal power. Returning Boards appointed 
and controlled by Federal authority, the outrage 
of the electoral rights of the people in the several 
States, the subjugation of the colored people to 
the control of the party in power and the reviving 
of race antagonisms, now happily abated : of the 
utmost peril to the safety and happiness of all ; 
a measure deliberately and justly described by a 
leading Republican Senator as the * most infa- 
mous bill that ever crossed the threshold of the 
Senate.' " 

Such a policy, it declared, meant the perpetual 
dominance of an oligarchy of office-holders ; It 
had been emphatically condemned In 1890, at the 
polls, yet the Republican party had reiterated its 
intention to support it. 

In regard to the question of the tariff, the report 
declared that Government necessity was the only 
justification for taxation, and that any customs 
charore more than sufficient to cover the difference 
in cost of labor here and abroad was unjust and 
oppressive to workingmen. It denounced the 
McKInley bill as an atrocity of class legislation, 
and demanded a revision of the tariff law, stating 
that " in making reductions in taxation it is not 
proposed to injure any domestic industries, but 
rather to promote their health growth. . . . Many 
industries have come to rely upon legislation for 
heakhy continuance, so that any changes of law 



^AQ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

must be at every step regardful of the labor and 
capital thus involved." 

The report proceeded to declare that the oper- 
ation of the McKinley bill had been attended by 
reduction of wages, dullness in trade, and distress ; 
that after thirty years of high tariff the homes and 
farms of the country were burdened with an 
immense load of debc ; and stated that "We 
denounce a poHcy which fosters no industry so 
much as it does diat of the Sheriff." 

It followed by denouncing the recent reciprocity 
scheme as a juggling sham, which pretended to 
establish closer trade relations with agricultural 
countries by prohibiting trade with the countries 
of the world which stood ready to take our entire 
surplus product, and to send us commodities of 
prime necessity. 

It next declared that trusts and combinations 
were a result of prohibitive taxes, and that their 
evils could and should be controlled and removed 
by law. As regards the public lands, they had been 
given away freely by the Republican party to 
railroads and non-settlers. This policy had been 
reversed by the Democratic administration, which 
had reclaimed nearly 100,000,000 acres of such 
unwise donations. This policy was to be contin- 
ued until every acre unlawfully held should be 
restored to the people. 

On the subject of coinage, the report spoke 
with unhesitating freedom, saying: 



CONVENTION OF iSgs. ^ . t 

"We denounce the Republican legislation 
known as the Sherman act of 1890 as a cowardly 
makeshift, fraught with possibilities of danger in 
the future, which should make all of its support- 
ers, as well as its author, anxious for its speedy ^ 
repeal. We hold to the use of both gold and ' 
silver as the standard money of the country, and 
to the coinage of both gold and silver without 
discriminating against either metal or charge for 
minta'j^e, but the dollar unit of coinage of both . 
metals must be of equal intrinsic and exchange- 
able value or be adjustf^d through international 
agreement or by such safeguards of legislation as 
shall insure the maintenance of the parity of the 
two metals and the equal power of every dollar 
at all times in die markets and in the payment 
of debts ; and we demand that all paper currency 
shall be kept at par with and redeemable in such 
coin. We insist upon this policy as especially 
necessary for the protection of the farmers and 
laborin'^ class'^s, tlie first and most defenceless 
victims of unstable money and a tluctuating cur- 
rency." 

The policy of Civil Service Reform was next 
advocated, and the system under which Federal 
office-holders can usurp control of party conven- 
tions was denounced, the Democratic party being- 
pledged to the reform of all such abuses. The 
report went on to declare that the Democratic 
party was the only one that had given the coun- 



oj_2 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

try a foreign policy that compelled respect abroad 
and Inspired confidence at home. It favored the 
maintenance of a navy strong enough for all pur- 
poses of national defence, and, while stating that 
this country had always been the refuge of the 
oppressed, and Its people In sympathy with the 
oppressed of every land, opposed indiscriminate 
immigration, saying: 

"• We heartily approve all legitimate efforts to 
prevent the United States from being used as the 
dumping ground for the known criminals and 
professional paupers of Europe, and we demand 
the riorid enforcement of the laws aofalnst Chinese 
immigration or the Importation of foreign work- 
men under contract to degrade American labor 
and lessen its wages, but we condemn and de- 
nounce any and all attempts to restrict the im- 
migration of the industrious and worthy of foreign 
lands." 

Other planks of the platform favored just and 
liberal pensions to disabled Union soldiers, their 
widows and dependents ; the Improvement of the 
Mississippi and other important waterways ; the 
early construction and protection against foreign 
control of the Nicaragua Canal ; the support by 
Congress of the World's Columbian Exposition ; 
the liberal support of education; the admission 
of all Territories which have the necessary popu- 
lation and resources ; legislation to protect rail- 
way employees ; the enactment of laws to abolish 



CONVENTION,' OF i8g3. ^ . ^ 

the sweating system, contract convict labor, and 
the employment in factories of children ; and con- 
cluded in the following words : 

'' Upon this statement of principles and poli- 
cies the Democratic party asks the intelligent 
judgment of the American people. It asks a 
change of administration and a change of party 
in order that there may be a change of system 
and a change of methods, thus assuring main- 
tenance unimpaired of the. institutions under 
which the republic has grown great and power- 
ful." 

On tlie completion of the reading, the tariff 
plank of the platform was excepted to by Dele- 
gate Neal, of Ohio, who moved to substitute a 
resolution which denounced the McKinley bill as a 
fraud and a scheme of robbery, and declared that 
the Government had no right to impose a tax ex- 
cept for revenue. This motion called forth a lively 
debate, but it was finally carried by a large ma- 
jority, the Convention establishing itself firmly on 
the policy of a tariff for revenue only. A free 
coinage plank was next proposed, but was voted 
down, and the platform as amended was adopted. 

THE NOMINATIONS. 

The next business before the Convention was 
the nomination of candidates for the Presidency. 
There was but little doubt by this time as to who 
would be the nominee, and when Governor 



^.^ LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAArD. 

Abbett, of New Jersey, took the stand for the 
purpose of nominating Cleveland, the roar of ap- 
plause that broke out could not be stilled for a 
full half-hour. It was with the greatest difficulty 
that he succeeded in completing his remarks on 
the subject, which ended in the following appre- 
ciative words : 

"The thundering echoes of this Convention, 
announcing the nomination of Grover Cleveland, 
will not have died out over the hills and through 
the valleys of this land before you will hear and 
see all our leaders rallying to the support of our 
candidate. It is because he has crystallized into a 
living issue the great principle upon which this 
batde is to be fought out. If he did not create 
tariff reform he made it a Presidential issue. He 
vitalized it, and presented it to our party as the 
issue for which we oui^^ht to fiorht and continue to 
battle until upon it victory is assured. There are 
few men in his position who would have the cour- 
age to boldly make the issue, and present it so 
clearly and forcibly as he did in his great message 
of 1887, 

" I believe that his policy then was to force a 
national issue which would appeal to the judgment 
of the people. We must honor a man who is 
honest enough and bold enouo-h under such cir- 
cumstances, to proclaim that the success of the 
party upon principle is better than evasion or 
shirking of true national issues for temporary 



CONV'ENTIOy OF iSg2. ^ . r 

success. The Democracy of* New Jersey there- 
fore presents to this Convention, in this the peo- 
ple's year, the nominee of the people, the plain, 
blunt, honest citizen, the idol of the Democratic 
masses — Grover Cleveland." 

He was followed by W. C. De Witt, of New 
York, who nominated David B. Hill. Governor 
Boies, of Iowa, was nominated by John F. Dun- 
combe. By the time the Convention was ready 
to ballot, more than ten hours had passed, and 
it was 3.30 A. M. when the result of the first ballo.t 
was announced. It was what had been anticipated. 
Cleveland had a clear majority over the necessary 
two-thirds vote, and on tlie motion of Mr. Upshur, 
of Maryland, seconded, by Governor Flower, of 
New York, the nomination was made unanimous, 
and the Convention adjourned till 2 p.m., after a 
session that had lasted the entire niirht. 

The final session was a brief one. Adlai E. 
Stevenson, of Illinois, was nominated for Vice- 
President on the first billot, and the Convention 
adjourned sine die, having completed its work. 



RECORD OF THE CONVENTION. 

Toward the close of the Convention it became evident to the 
many thousands anxiously awaiting the outcome in tlie convention 
city and throughout the country that Mr. Cleveland would be 
nominated on the first ballot. The ex-President himself felt 
confident all through the trying hours preceding the vote, that 
this would be the course of the Convention. The ballot resulted 
as follov/s : 

For President, 

GEOVER CLEVELAND, 

of New York. 

For Vice President, 

ADLAI E. STEVENSON 

of Illinois. 



rho vote for President was : 

J-rover Cleveland, of New York 617i 

David B. Hill, of New York 115 

Horace Boies, of Iowa 103 

Arthur P. Gorman, of Maryland 3'"^ 

A. E. Stevenson, of Illinois 1G| 

John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky. , 14 

William B. Morrison, of Illinois 2 

James E. Campbell, of Ohio 2 

Robert E. Pa^tison, of Pennsylvania 1 

William B. Whitney, of New York 1 

William Russell, of Massachusetts , 1 

The vote for Vice President was : 

Adlai E. Stevenson, of Illinois 402 

Isaac P. Gray, of Indiana 3i3 

Allen B. Morse, of Michigan 86 

John L. Mitchell, of Wisconsin 45 

Henry Watterson, of Kentucky 26 

Bourke Cockran, of New York 5 

Lambert Tree, of Illinois 1 



The number of votes cast was 909^ ; 607 were necessary to a 
choice. 

Of the scattering votes Campbell got 2 from Alabama. Carlisle 
got 3 from Florida, 6 from Kentucky, 5 from Ohio. Total 14. 
Stevenson got 16| from North Carolina. Pattison got 1 from 
West Virginia. Russell got 1 from Massachusetts. Whitney got 
1 from Maine. 



RECORD OF THE CONVENTION. 



The first and only ballot for President was as follows : 



States. 
Alabama 


Cleveland. 
14 


Hill. 
2 

3 
"5 

*i 

1 

'4 
'3 

72 
1 - 

11 

6 

\i 
*i 

115 


Boi?s. 
1 

5 

'e 

26 

'2 
11 

*i 

3 
"e 

16 

13 

1 

*6 

'i 

103 


Gorman. 

1 

*i 

*i 
1 

'i 

i 
2 

'5 

i 

*3 ■ 
'3 
'i 

36* 


Scatv 


Arkansas 


16 




California 


18 




Colorado 






Connecticut. 

Delaware 


12 

6 


•• 


Florida 


5 




Georgia 


17 




Idaho. 






Illinois 


48 




Indiana 


30 




Iowa 






Kansas 


20 




Kentucky 


18 

3 

9 

6 

24 

28 

18 

8 

34 

\\ 15 

8 
. . 20 

: 1 

14 

8 
04 
8 
2 
7 

24 

23 

8 

12 

8 

7 

24 

3 

2 

5 

2 

! 4 

2 

2 

2 

. 6171 




Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 


• 


Massachusetts 

Michigan 

Minnesota 




Misteissippi 

Missouri 


•• 


Moutana 

Nebraska 

Nevada 

New Hampshire 

New Jersey' 

New York 

North Carolina 


Yl\ 


North Dakota 


■"1 


Ohio 

Oregon 

I'enns^'lvania . . 




Rhode Island. 

Sou til Carolina 

South Dakota 




Tennessee 

Texas 


•• 


Vermont 




Virginia 




Washington 




West Virginia 




Wisconsin 




Wyoming 

Alaska 

Arizona 




District of Columbia... 

New Mexico 

Oklahoma 

Utah 


. , 


Indian Territory 

Total 


38| 



HON. ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 



A Biographical Sketch 



OP 



ADLAl E, STEVENSON 

ASSISTANT POST-MASTER GENERAL 

AND 

DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT OF 
THE UNITED STATES, 1892. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT. 

IN the Federal Convention of "our wise an- 
cestors," who framed that Constitution under 
which, with shtT:ht chanires, the Government 
has been administered successfully for more than 
a century, the office of President, as it now exists, 
and the mode of filling- it, were not created and 
adopted without serious variances of opinion and 
repeated changes of plan. 

In the article on President and Vice-President, 
as finally adopted, It was provided that each elec- 
tor could vote for two persons as his choice for 
President without expressing any preference or 
distinction. The failure of any candidate to 
receive a clear majority of all the votes cast, or a 
tie resulting between the highest two candidates, 
each with a majority — events not unlikely to occur 
in the manifold political divisions of that day — was 
provided for by the regulation that the House of 
Representatives, voting by States, should make 
choice between the two tied, or among the highest 
five of whom none had received a majority. The 
same article provided, however, that after the 
choice of President, the next highest electoral 
vote should designate the Vice-President; and 



^r2 LIFE OF AD LAI E. STEVEySON. 

only in the event of a tie should the election to 
that office be referred to Congress, and then to 
the Senate, votnig Individually, and not to the pop- 
ular branch nor to a vote by States. 

To the office of Vice-President Itself, created 
rather grudgingly, objecdon was made. " Such 
an officer as Vice-President," said Williamson, '' is 
not wanted." Says Bancroft : '' To make an ex° 
cuse for his existence the Convention decreed that 
he should be President of the Senate." The 
peculiar powers, duties, and significance of it have 
always been more or less the subject of conten- 
tion. John Adams, the first Vice-President, said to 
the Senate : " Gentlemen, I do not know whether 
the framers of the Constitution had in view the two 
Kings of Sparta, the two Consuls of Rome, or the 
two Suffetes of Carthaore when thev formed it — the 
one to have all the power while he held it, and the 
other to be nothing. Gentlemen, I feel great 
difficulty how to act. I am possessed of two 
separate powers — the one in esse, the other in posse. 
I am Vice-President. In this I am nothing, but I 
may be everything. But I am President also of 
the Senate. When the President comes Into the 
Senate what shall I be ? I wish, gendeman, to 
think what I shall be." Years ago the Senate 
took away from the Vice-President and assumed 
for itself the power to appoint the working com- 
mittees of that body ; and except to preside In the 
Senate, and cast the decidlnor vote jn case pf a Ue 



THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT. 



353 



It has been left to the Vice-President only to 
await the contingency pointed out by that section 
of the Federal Constitution, which says, "Incase 
of the removal of the President from office, or of 
his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the 
powers and duties of the said office, the same 
shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the 
Congress may by law provide * for the case of 
removal, death, resignation, or inabihty, both of 
the President and Vice-President, declaring what 
officer shall then act as President, and such officer 
shall act accordingly, until the disability be re- 
moved, or a President shall be elected." 

Under the original scheme of the Constitution 
as framed by its authors, John Adams being the 
second choice of a majority of the Electoral 
College for President, both at the first and sec- 
ond elections of Washington, became the Vice- 
President, although George Clinton, Republican, _>— ^ 
received 50 electoral votes in 1 7^2, To 'j'] for yy 1 
Adams. In the sharply contested struggle of \X^ 
1796, Thomas Jefferson came within two votes of 
the Presidency, and receiving more votes than the 
P'ederalist candidate for Vice-President, he was 
chosen to the second place in an administration 
of which the Chief was his political antagonist. 

It was not until after the treachery of Aaron 
Burr, in 1801, forcing a tie vote between him and 



* Congress has recently provided that in such cases the Secretary of 
State shall act as President pending the new election. 



>^CA LIFE OF AD LA I E. STEVENSO.V. 

his Chief in the Electoral College, had opened 
the eyes of the people to the danger of their real 
choice being obstructed by the uncertain machin- 
ery of that cumbersome device, that such change 
was made in the plan of electing the President 
and Vice-President as tended to more direcdy 
secure the real expression of the popular will. 
By the Twelfth Amendment, proposed by Con- 
gress in 1803 and promptly ratified by the States, 
it was prescribed that henceforth electors should 
designate distinctly their one choice for President 
and for Vice-President ; that " the person having 
the orreatest number of votes as Vice-President 
shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a 
majority of the whole number of electors ap- 
pointed ; and if no person have a majority, then 
from the two hio;hest numbers on the list the 
Senate shall choose the Vice-President ; a quorum 
for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the 
whole number of Senators, and a majority of the 
whole number shall be necessary to a choice." 
By the same Amendment an oversight of the 
original instrument was corrected in the enact- 
ment that " no person constitutionally ineligible 
to the office of President shall be eliofible to that 
of Vice-President of the United States." 

Burr, of course, failed of re-election to the 
Vice-Presidency ; under Jefferson's second ad- 
ministration and in the first of Madison's terms 
George Clinton brought to the Vice- Presidency 



THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT. -> rr 

an honored name, worth, and fit dignity. Elbrldge 
Gerry, elected Vice-President to Aladison, died 
suddenly in the second year of his term ; Daniel 
D. Tompkins, who went into office and out of it 
with Monroe, in the uneventful era of good feel- 
ing, was a more conspicuous statesman before 
than after he became Vice-President ; John C. 
Calhoun, previously distinguished as a Represen- 
tative, and by brilliant Cabinet service, became 
Vice-President by the mutual consent of the fierce 
Adams and Jackson factions in the electoral strug- 
gle of 1824, but differed almost throughout 
his administration from President John Quincy 
Adams, and was an active party to the combina- 
tion which defeated him. 

Personal and political alienation and a revival 
of ihe old troubles between Monroe's War Secre- 
tary and the chief captain of the Seminole War 
soon produced a far more violent rupture between 
Jackson and Calhoun than had ever occurred 
between Adams and Calhoun, ensuing in the lat- 
ter's resignation of the Vice-Presidency and his 
antagonism of Van Buren. Then followed Van 
Buren's own political ascendency, first as Vice- 
President, then as President, to be succeeded by 
his defeat, even after Calhoun had become recon- 
ciled to his support. 

Richard M. Johnson, the Van Buren candidate 
for Vice-President, failed of election in the Elect- 
oral College; he only received 147 electoral votes, 



256 ^^^'^ OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON-. 

while his Chief had 170, the number necessary to 
a choice being 148. 

The election being- referred to the Senate, 
Johnson was chosen by 33 votes to 16 for Francis 
Granger, the highest Whig candidate. 

During the first thirteen Presidential terms, 
covering the period from 1789 to 1841, none of 
the eight Presidents died, resigned, or had been 
impeached, and no one of the twelve persons who 
within that period had acted as Vice-Presidents 
had ever succeeded to the higher place. That 
experience came to the country early in the ad- 
ministration of Harrison, who died after a month 
in office, and John Tyler became his successor. 
His choice as a candidate on the Whig ticket of 
1840 had been directed by a desire to secure the 
support of an element different from that which 
was rallied by Harrison's name ; and Tyler's de- 
fection from Whig principles and policies, which 
might have been reasonably expected, called forth 
for him bitter denunciation from his late sup- 
porters and added the word " Tylerize " to our 
political nomenclature. John Tyler's estrange- 
ment from the party which made Harrison Presi- 
dent ought to have taught the politicians that they 
had not, by the policy pursued in the selections 
they made for Vice-President, avoided the dangers 
which it had been sought to obviate by the con- 
stitutional amendment of 1803. But the lesson 
has not always been heeded. Since 1841 it hap- 



THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT. iq^ 



O. 



pened, within a period no longer than the space 
of a generation, that three Vice-Presidents suc- 
ceeded to vacancies caused by death ; none of 
them united his party in support of his adminis- 
tration, nor attained by election the office to 
which he came by accident, though all aspired to 
it. 

Fillmore was chosen Vice-President by the same 
electors who made Taylor President, but his 
signature to the Fugitive Slave Law, approved 
by a vote of 227 to 60 in the next National Con- 
vention of his party, lost him. a renomination. 
William R. Kind's lone career of usefulness and 
distinction was crowned with election to the Vice- 
Presidency, and a graceful grant by Congress 
gave him permission to take the oath of office in 
Cuba, where, on March 4th, 1853, he was sojourn- 
inor for his healtli. / 

John C. Breckinridge's name was a fit one to (^ ' 
be associated with any Democratic candidate 
and to be honored by election in 1856. He 
was the nominee of one wing of his party, 
in its fatal dissensions of i860, for the hi-hest 

place. Hamlin's defeat for renomination, in 1 864, 

was due to a spirit of concession to the Southern 
Loyalists, and resulted in the Johnson succession 
to the murdered Lincoln, with all the train of 
political com[)lications that followed. Colfax's de- 
feat for renomination as Vice-President with 
Grant is ascribed to the hostility of the newspaper 



-^rg LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVEXSON. 

correspondents, whose righteous wrath he had 
provoked. Mr. Wheeler "ghded through the 
official routine " of Hayes' term to be submerged 
by the obscurity which settled upon the whole of 
that administration ; while Arthur shared the fate 
of Fillmore — in seeing his policy almost unan- 
imously indorsed by his party and himself rejected 
by that dominant faction which had chosen the 
head of the ticket in 1880, and completed it with 
a view to reconcile the disappointed elements of 
the Convention, having no thought to the re- 
mote contingency of the Presidential succession. 
Since John C. Calhoun's day no Vice-President 
has ever been re-elected, and no man who became 
President by succession has been subsequently 
elected to the office. 

Mr. Hendricks, elected Vice-President in Mr. 
Cleveland's first term of office, died in office on 
Ma^^€iu4lh, 1885. He was succeeded by the Hon. 
John Sherman as President of the Senate, and 
Actinof Vice-President. Sherman was succeeded 
in 1889 by Hon. John J. Ingalls. 



A 



CHAPTER II. 

EARLY DAYS AND BUSINESS LIFE. 

DLAI E. STEVENSON comes from that 
shrewd and sturdy Scotch-Irish stock 
which has added so much to the brain 
and brawn of our country. His father was born 
at Mecklenburg, N. C, a town famous for having 
issued the first Declaradon of Independence 
in this country. This memorable document, 
proclaimed on May 20th, 1775, more than a 
year before the Fourdi of July Declaration, is 
said to have been prepared and promulgated 
by the great-granduncle of the subject of our 
sketch. From Mecklenburg Mr. Stevenson's 
father made his way westward, and setded in 
Christian County, in southwestern Kentucky, 
where he became a farmer in a small way. Here 
his son Adlai was born on the 23d of October, 
1835, and between boyish labors on the paternal 
farm, boyish pranks, and sports in that then 
thinly-setded country, and such schooling as could 
be had in the rude country school of that date and 
locality, passed his life until he reached the age 
of I 5. He was then a well-grown and handsome 
lad, with a fair educadon, considering his limited 
opportunides, and with evidence of that ambition 

359 



36o 



LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 



and ability which were destined to bring him into 
his future prominence in our national councils. 

In 1852, when the future legislator was in his 
15th year, his father decided to try his fortunes 
in the then rapidly-growing State of Illinois, and 
removed to Bloomington, in that State, then a 
town of no great dimensions or importance, now 
a city of over 20,000 population. In Kentucky 
Mr. Stevenson had been a slaveholder to a small 
extent. He was a poor man, and the sale of his 
few slaves would have been of much importance 
to him in his new venture in life. Yet, setting 
aside questions of pecuniary profit for what seemed 
to him the demands of duty and human right, he 
gave freedom to his slaves, and with light pocket 
but satisfied conscience set out in search of a new 
home afar. 

In those days the railroad had not penetrated 
to that region of the far West, and the emigrants 
had to make their northward way, with their 
slender store of household goods and treasures, 
by wagon. The journey, which now would be a 
matter of part of a day, then took three long 
weeks, voune Stevenson drivine" one of thewacrons. 
No doubt this weary trip was attended by its fair 
share of hardship and adventure, for the roads of 
that day must have been, in part, little more than 
blazed foresc tracks, while the rude farm wagons 
were not insured against break-down accidents, 
nor the travelers against troubles by field and fell.. 



EARL V DA YS AND BUSINESS LIFE. 35 j 

The family cavalcade reached BloomingLoii in 
the month of June, 1852. Here the elder Steven- 
son enofa^Jfed in the millinor business, while his son, 
feelino^ that the time had come for his life-work to 
commence, b::;gan work at once, at the not light 
labor of haulinof loo^s. These were broucrht from 
a piece of woodland known as '* Blooming Grove," 
a locality which now forms a large part of the city 
of Bloomington. 

But the ambitious youth was not one to settle 
down to a life work in the useful but humble duty 
of haulinof loofs. His view of life looked forward 
to a goal in which log-rolling was likely to be still 
a favorite occupation, though not one in which he^ 
had any desire to take part. With an earnest 
desire to improve himself mentally, he worked 
early and late in summer, and in the winter taught 
public school, availing himself of his somewhat 
sparse Kentucky education to advance the educa- 
tional interests of Illinois. 

His ardent desire was to attend college, and to 
this his unflaororincr efforts were directed. Bloom- 
ington possessed an educational institution of 
some importance, the Wesleyan University of 
Illinois. Here, the ambitious youth entered him- 
self as a student, and obtained his first acquaint- 
ance with the higher branches of study. His 
teaching brought him in an income of thirty dol- 
lars a month, with the privilege of boarding round 
among the patrons of the school, then the pre- 



362 



LIFE OF ADLA: E STEVE XSOV. 



vailing fashion in frontier settlements, and one In 
wliich the poor schoolmaster often found lenten 
fare and rough accommodations, though usually a 
warm welcome to soften them. 

It may be seen that young Stevenson's life was 
not passed on a bed of roses. His father was in 
moderate circumstances, and while in sympathy 
with his son's effort to obtain an education, was 
not able to give him personal aid. The world lay 
before him ; he must work his own way through 
it. Wesleyan University, despite its high-sound- 
ing title, did not offer the opportunities for an 
advanced education which the aspiring youth 
desired. It was, moreover, a Methodist institu- 
tion. His family were all Presbyterian, and he 
had been brought up in the Presbyterian Church. 
For this reason, he had fixed his desires on the 
famous Presbyterian institution known as Centre 
College, of Danville, Ky., for the completion 
of his education. With this in view, he saved all 
he could out of his slender income, and was ena- 
bled to inscribe his name on the roll of pupils of 
this well known institution. He obtained board 
in the town at $2.50 per week, all that his small 
store of money would admit of his paying, and 
went at his studies with an energy and determi- 
nation to succeed which made small light of poverty 
and discouragement. Centre College then con- 
tained many students of future note. Among his 
classmates were : W. C. Breckenridgc, John 



EARL V DA YS AXD BUSIAESS LIFE. 363 

Young Brown, Thomas D. Crittenden, the after- 
ward Senators Blackburn and Davidson, and 
Governor McCreery, with other men destined 
to win their way to fame. 

Of Mr. Stevenson's college life we have few 
particulars to relate. He joined die College 
Society of Phi Delta Theta — of which President 
Harrison is also a member — studied with ardent 
enthusiasm, and made himself a name as one of 
the most earnest and able students of the institu- 
tion. At the compledon of the last year of his 
attendance at college he was at the head of his 
class, and would, no doubt, have graduated with 
hio-h honors after a year more of study, had not 
his colleo-e life been brouoht to a sudden termina- 
tion. His graduating year would have been 1856, 
but he was called home in 1855, by the deatli of 
his father, and found himself unable to return. 
His father had died a poor man, leaving no prop- 
erty but the homestead, and it was necessary for 
tlie young student to end his college career at 
that point, and enter at once upon the practical 
duties of life. 

He xvas now twenty years of age. Morally 
and intellectually alike, he had made his mark 
amono- his fellow-students. His habits had been 
exemplary; he did not smoke or drink, and as a stu- 
dent had been a remarkably hard worker. Of his 
college recreadons, a principal pordon had been 
the part he took in the poHtical debadng society 
21 



364 



LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 



of the students, in which he gained his first prac- 
tice in that exposition of Democratic principles 
by which he was to make his mark in after hfe. 

While pursuing his college studies, he had 
occupied much of his spare time in reading law. 
being loaned books for that purpose by a lawyer 
friend he had made in Danville. The law, In fact, 
was the profession he had chosen in his own 
mind for his future career, and shortly after leav- 
ing colleije he entered the law office of Hon. 
Robert T. Williams, then a lawyer of some note 
in the Bloomington courts. His previous read- 
ino-s now stood hi n In ijooJ stead, and after a 
year of industrious study he was pronounced by 
his preceptor fitted for examination, and was 
admitted to the bar. 

His admission took place on May ist, 1858. 
He was now in his 23d year. Anxious to obtain 
a practice that would afford him the means of a 
livelihood, he looked around him for a promising 
opening for a young lawyer. While reading law 
he had supported himself by his old occupation 
of teaching school, but this was no lonorer availa- 
ble. He must now make his living by his pro- 
fission. Mr. Williams advised him to go to 
M;^tamora and start there, giving him letters of 
introduction to friends of his own in that town. 
The youthful aspirant took this advice, hung out 
his shingle in that small country town, and after a 
month's weary waiting obtained his first case — a 



EARL y DA YS AND BUSTXESS LIFE. -,5^ 

suit before a justice of the peace, His opponent 
was John Clark, an experienced lawyer, but 
Stevenson won the case and pocketed his first 
fee — the small sum of five dollars. His success 
in this suit brouorht him some prestige, more cases 
came to him, and his first year's business netted 
him a profit of $500. 

The young lawyer was not long in making his 
ability felt, and through the influence of friends 
he received, in 1861, the appointment of Master 
in Chancery. In 1864 he was elected District 
Attorney for the 23 I District of Illinois, consisting 
of three counties. During his occupancy of this 
office, he rode his circuit on horseback. He held 
the position for four years, but the pay was small, 
and at the end of that time he gave it up, an I 
also his office in Metamora, returninof to Bloom- 
ington. Here he formed a law partnership with 
his double cousin, James S. Ewing, and began 
practice In the court in which Abraham Lincoln 
had formerly practiced. Mr. Stevenson had 
become acquainted with Lincoln during his boy- 
hood days, and admired him gready. He was 
only sorry, as 'he afterward often said, that 
Lincoln was not a Democrat. Among the young 
lawyer's intimates at Metamora may be named 
Col. Robert Ingersoll, the famous anti-Bible 
controversialist and political orator. At that 
time Ingersoll was not pronounced In his religious 
views. If he held radical opinions in religion, he 



^56 ^^^^ OF ADLAI E. STEVE X SON. 

kept them to himself. It Is only necessary to say 
further In conclusion of our review of Mr. Steven- 
son's business life, that the law firm of Stevenson 
& Ewing- greatly prospered and still exists, having 
one of the largest legal practices In central Illi- 
nois. It is said of It that It has never been a 
corporation firm, being on the opposite side In 
all corporation cases. Almost every legal battle 
in which Mr. Stevenson has been personally 
engaged has been against a corporation. 




BENTON McMillan. 



CHAPTER III. 

POLITICAL CAREER. 

WE have told the story of Mr. Steven- 
son's youthful days, his strenuous 
efforts to obtain an education, and 
his successful professional career, before enter- 
ing upon the record of his political life, which 
is sufficiently important to demand separate 
treatment. As we have already said, his pre- 
dilection toward a political career was manifested 
in his college life, in which he took an active 
part in the political debates of the students. His 
public career as a politician began in 1858, while 
he was still a law student in Mr. Williams's office. 
This was the year of the famous Lincoln and 
Douglas debate Mr. Douglas had arranged to 
come to Bloomington to speak, and the Demo- 
cratic citizens of that town chose Mr. Stevenson 
as a member of the committee appointed to receive 
him. Douglas took a fancy to the young man, 
and advised him to enter politics, telling him that 
he was rather a young man, but might hope yet to 
be President or Vice-President of the United 
States — a prediction which, unlike many prophe- 
cies of the same kind, bids fair to be fulfilled. 
The young law student took the advice of the 

3^7 



368 



LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 



veteran statesman. He was already a ready 
speaker, not particularly eloquent, but level- 
headed and argumentative, and with the faculty 
of generally flooring his opponent. Soon after 
Douglas left the town Stevenson took the stump 
on the side of the Democracy, and made a consid- 
erable number of speeches during the campaign. 
His next active political work was during the 
Presidential campaign of i860, in which he made 
himself quite a reputation as a clear and logical 
speaker. In 1864 he was placed on the McClel- 
lan electoral ticket, and stumped the State for 
the Democratic candidate, making over one 
hundred speeches. He was equally active during 
the succeeding Presidential campaigns, being one 
of the principal Democratic speakers in 1868, and 
again in 1872. 

With undimished energy and enthusiasm he 
toc^k the stump for Tilden in 1876, for Hancock in 
1880, and for Cleveland in 1884, and in fact has 
b -en actively engaged as a speaker in every 
Pn^sidential campaign since i860. 

His first nomination to a political position was 
made in 1874, when the People's party, an organi- 
zadon with no polidcal affiliation, yet opposed to 
the extravagance of the existing Republican ad- 
ministration, made him its candidate for Congress. 
The district, comprising the five counties of 
McL.ean, De Witt, Logan, Tazewell, and Mason, 
was strongly Republican, giving a majority of 



POLITICAL CAREER. ^5q 

3,000 for that party. Mr. Stevenson declined the 
nomination. He was not eager for office, and 
particularly did not care to run on a hopeless 
ticket. About a week afterward the Democratic 
Committee of the District ratified the nomination 
of the People's party. The case still seemed hope- 
less, but Mr. Stevenson now accepted the nomi- 
nation, and went in to win with all his well-known 
energy. The result was a surprise to both par- 
ties. The Republican majority was swept away 
and he was sent to Congress with a majority of 
1,285 votes — I splendid attestation of his popular- 
ity as a citizen and ability as an orator. 

As a member of the Forty-fourth Congress 
Mr. Stevenson made his mark in his strenuous 
opposition to the mo le of settlement of the Tilden- 
Hayes electoral dispute — the Presidential steal, as 
it was named at the time. He made a number of 
able speeches on the question, of which, in illus- 
tration of his powers as an orator, we eive die 
concluding portion of the last, in which he strongly 
arraigns the decision of the Electoral Commission 
as venial, and a dangerously partisan setdement 
of a vital political question. 

" The worst effect of this decision, Mr. Speaker," 
he said, "will be Its lesson to the young men of 
our country. Hereafter old-fashioned honesty is 
at a discount, and villainy and fraud the legalized 
instruments of success. The fact may be con- 
ceded, the proof is overwhelming, that the honest 



370 LIFE OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON. 

voice of States has been overthrown by outrage 
and fraud, and yet the chosen tribunal of the 
people has entered the solemn record that there is 
no remedy. O Judgment! thou art_fled to 
brutish beasts ! 

'' Mr. Speaker, my criticism of the decision of 
this tribunal rests upon its finding in the cases of 
Louisiana and Florida. Upon the Oregon case I 
have no criticism to offer. It is true, Mr. Speaker, 
we have now reached the final act in this oreat 
drama, and the record here made will pass into 
history. Time, the great healer, will bring a balm 
to those who feel sick at heart because of this 
wrong. But who can estimate the evils that may 
result to us and our children from this judgment. 
Fortunate, indeed, will it be for this country if 
our people lose not faith in popular institutions; 
fortunate if they abate not their confidence in the 
integrity of that high tribunal. For a century the 
bulwark of our liberty in all kinds of popular 
commotion and peril, the Supreme Court of the 
United States has been looked upon as the final 
arbitrator, its decrees heeded as the voice of God. 
How disastrous may be the result of decisions so 
manifestly partisan I will not now attempt to fore- 
cast. Let this vote be now taken and the curtain 
fall, that no hindrance or delay be interposed to 
the execution of the law but that of faithful ad- 
herence to its mandates. By honest efforts to 
revive the prostrate industries of the country, and 



POLITICAL CAREER. 



'hl'^ 



restore public confidence by obedience to the con- 
stituted authorities, we will show ourselves patriots 
rather than partisans in this hour of our country's 
misfortune." 

It may be well at this point to allude to certain 
unfounded charges . which have recently been 
broucrht ao-ainst Mr. Stevenson, and the refuta- 
tion of which forms a proper portion of his history. 
It has been claimed that he was, at the outbreak 
of the war, a leading member of the disloyal asso- 
ciation known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, 
and that all hi^s sympathies were with the South. 
This charge is absolutely without foundation. Mr. 
Stevenson says in regard to it: '4 never had any 
sympathy with the Knights of the Golden Circle. 
At the time that organization was said to exist, I 
did not know that it existed. My heart sympa- 
thies were with the Union cause." 

What he here says was abundantly proved by 
his acts. Home duties at the time prevented his 
going personally to the war, but he did his utmost 
in aid of the raising of troops. We have the 
testimony of an Illinois colonel, who raised two 
companies of men in the vicinity of Bloomington 
that Mr. Stevenson was his right hand in the 
work. He went about the county with him, making 
speeches in favor of the cause, and using every 
effort to eain recruits. In further attestation of 
what we have here said, we may advert to a 
eulogy on Stephen A. Douglas, shordy after the 



^^2 ^^^^^ OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 

death of the IlHnois champion of Democracy, In 
1861. This address is filled \^ith Union sentiments. 
Mr. Stevenson quotes largely, and approvingly, 
fnm Mr. Douglas's fervid speeches, in favor of 
the North, and indorses the strongly Unionistic 
remarks of the deceased statesman, with an ear- 
nestness that admits of but one interpretation, viz., 
that Adlai E. Stevenson was heart and soul in 
favor of the preservation of the Union. 

In further evidence of this, we may offer a very 
brief quotation from one of his speeches on the 
pensioning of our veterans. 

" I trust that neither this Congress, nor any that 
may come after it, may pursue other than the most 
generous policy toward the defenders of our 
Republic. To provide for them- when disabled by 
wounds or disease, and for their families when 
dependent, is a sacred duty, an obligation impera- 
tive upon the government. It should be our policy 
so clearly defined that all men may read, that he 
who perils life In the defense of this government 
is henceforth under Its guardianship." 

We need say no more. This weak campaign 
lie has been scotched and killed, and Mr. Steven- 
son's abiding loyalty to the Union Is beyond the 
shadow of a doubt. 

In 1876 Mr. Stevenson was renominated for 
Congress by the Democratic party, the nomina- 
tion being now ratified by the People's and Inde- 
pendent parties. It was, however, a Presidendal 



POLITICAL CAREER. " ^y^ 

year, and he was defeated at the polls, but only by 
200 votes, he running far ahead of his ticlvet. In 
1878 the no.nination was again tendered him. He 
declined it, but so great a pressure was brought 
to bear on him by his friends that he was finally 
induced to accept. It was, as before, ratified by 
the People's and Independent parties. The election 
that followed was hotly contested, but Stevenson 
won by a majority of 1,800, a striking evidence of 
his popularity in view of the great Republican 
strength of the District. He ran again in 1880, 
but this being a Presidential year he was de- 
feated, yet only by the small majority of 242 
votes. 

After 1880 the State was redistrlcted by a Re- 
publican Legislature, and Stevenson placed in a 
district of which every county was Republican. 
He ran for Congress again in 1882, and was de- 
feated by 350 votes. This was his last effort. In 
the succeeding Congressional election his old op- 
ponent was returned by over 2,700 majority, an- 
other interesting evidence that Stevenson's per- 
sonal popularity had gained him a large support 
from the other party. 

In 1884 Mr. Stevenson was one of the delegates 
to the Democratic National Convendon at Chicago, 
and afterward was a member of the committee 
appointed to wait upon Cleveland and Hendricks 
and notify them of their nomination. Mr. Cleve- 
land was then at the State House in Albany, and 



374 



l^FE OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON. 



there first met the two men who were to be asso- 
ciated on the Democratic ticket of 1892. 

The new President's appreciation of the valu- 
able services of the Illinois delegate was soon 
shown. In July, 1S85, the First Assistant Post- 
master-General, Malcolm Hay, was obliged to re- 
siirn, his health havinir failed under the laborious 
nature of his duties, Mr. Stevenson wasappointed 
to s icceed him, his appointment dating from July 
7tli, 1 885. The task be fore the new official was no 
light one ; the bulk of the work of the office fell 
upon him, but he proved fully competent to its 
performance, and by his geniality and justice made 
himself friends and acquaintances in almost every 
town and hamlet in the United States, his duties 
bringing him directly into contact with an army of 
postmasters. No man was more popular in 
Washington. His distinoruishino^ characteristic 
was his dislike of red tape, and absence of form- 
ality marked his performance of his official duties. 
The latchstring was always out in his office. No 
repellant doorkeeper stood between him and the 
public ; no guards were necessary to herald a vis- 
itor ; every man who had business with the office 
had simply to walk in, and no one failed to meet 
witli a cheerful reception, and a polite attention to 
his remarks. He often had interviews with more 
than a hundred men daily; and even after 2 
o'clock, the official hour for closing the doors to 
visitors, Mr. Stevenson was readily accessible. In 



POLITICAL CAREER. ^75 

fact, he could be seen at any time while at the 
office, and, though doubtless often pestered with 
bores, was Invariably kind and considerate. 

He was not a deleorate to the 1888 nominatine 
Conventfon, nor did he attend Its sessions, but his 
Inrtuence was thrown In favor of makinir Mr. 
Cleveland the nominee, and during* the campai^^n 
he worked night and day for the man of his 
clioice, his whole soul bsiuLT for Cleveland. The 
number of his speeches cannot be oriven. Ten 
were mide in New Y )rk and an uncounted 
number in IHInois and other States. After the 
election of Pres-d jint Harrison, and the appoint- 
ment of his Cabinet, it fell to the lot of Mr. 
Stevenson, In the absence of Don M. Dickinson, 
the Postmaster-General, to t irn over the office to 
John Wanamiker, the newly-appointed Post- 
master-General. This he did, and to his own 
Inconvenience, consented to retain the position of 
First Assistant for 10 or 1 2 days, until his suc- 
cessor, John M. Clarkson, Avas appointed. 

Mr. Stevenson then returned home and re- 
sumed the practice of his profession. In which he 
has since that period been actively engaged. 

In the Democratic National Convention of 1892, 
Mr. Stevenson took a prominent part, as head of 
the Illinois delegation. In which position he cast the 
vote of the State as a unit In favor of the nomi- 
nation of Grover Cleveland. When the question 
of nominatino: a candidate for Vice-President 



3^6 ^^^^-^ OF ADLAI E. STEVENSOiV. 

came before the Convention, the Hon. Isaac P. 
Gray, of Indiana, was much the most prominent 
name. But when Ilhnois was reached in the roll- 
call of States, Nicholas E. Worthin;j^ton rose, and 
advancing to the platform, delivered the following 
brief but effective speech : 

"Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Delegates: — 
11 inois has presented no Presidential candidate to 
this Convention. It has within its borders more 
than one favorite son, whom it would have de- 
lighted to honor, and who are worthy of all the 
political honors that could be conferred upon 
them. But here in this great city of Chicago, in 
this great Commonu^ealth of IlHnois, bordering 
upon ihe Lake end the Mississippi, In the centre 
of this great Republic, the Democracy, catching 
the vibrations of the crround swell that came from 
the South, and the East, and the West, put aside 
its favorite sons, for the time buried its State 
pride, and echoing back to Texas, Connecticut, 
and California, with 48 votes shouted the name of 
Grover Cleveland. 

" But for the Vice-Presidency, for the second 
highest place in the gift of the people, it has a 
candidate so fully equipped by nature and educa- 
tion that it feels that it would be a political fault 
to fail to urge his name for nomination before you. 
I stand here, then, gentlemen, to name as a can- 
didate for that position a man that is known by 
every woman and child and voter^iat ever licked 



POLITICAL CARLER.. 377 

a postage-stamp In every village and hamlet in the 
land. [Applause.] A big-bodied, big-hearted, 
big-brained man ; a man of commanding presence, 
of dignified mien ; a man whose courtesy in his 
every-day manners is rarely equalled and never 
excelled ; a man who in the administration of his 
duties in the last Democratic administration was 
the beau ideal of an honest, honorable, useful, and 
efficient Democratic office-holder. I refer to the 
Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson. Like his great leader, 
who bears your banner, he believes that public 
office Is a public trust, but he believes, also, that 
the Democrats are the best trustees of this public 
trust. 

'* Nor can the pride of office make him proud 
or haughty. I appeal to every Senator and Con- 
gressman who is here. If ever he found the 
hauehtiness of office, the chlllinof indifference of a 
little brief authority in the atmosphere of the room 
of- the Assistant Postmaster-General during 
Cleveland's administration. . . . Will you help 
us eive the 24 electoral votes to Grover Cleveland 
by voting for the man whose name I now present 
— a man who does not have to e^t a certificate 
from a labor organization to prove that he Is a 
friend of the people — a man that we all love — 
Adlai E. Stevenson, of 111 nols." 

This address was frequendy Interrupted by ap- 
plause, and ended In an outburst of cheers which 
showed that die rieht vein had been touched, and 



378 LIFE. OF AD LA I E. STEVENSON. 

that Stevenson was the man for the people. But 
the true test came when the voting began, and 
the result showed that Stevenson had received 
402 votes to 343 for Gray, with 157 for other can- 
didates. Hardly had the vote been announced 
before Iowa changed the vote of its delegation 
from Watterson to Stevenson. This started a 
stampede. With rapid speed Montana, Nebraska, 
Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Texas 
changed their votes to Stevenson, and then, on 
the motion of Mr. Cole, of Ohio, the nomination 
of the Illinois candidate was made by acclama- 
tion, and Adlai E. Stevenson wheeled into line as 
second on the Democratic Presidential ticket of 
1892. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DOMESTIC LIFE. 

WE shall conclude with what is an impor- 
tant element in every man's story — 
the record of his courtship and mar- 
riage (in case he has avoided the gulf of old bach- 
elorhood), and of his life at home, and as a member 
of society. Mr. Stevenson was fortunate in ob- 
taining for wife the daughter of his old colleore 
president. During his student days at Danville 
he made the acquaintance of Miss Letitia Green, 
the daughter of Dr. L. W. Green, President of 
Centre College, and a charming example of Ken- 
tucky's lovely daughters. Many meetings took 
place between them, and though no word of love 
was spoken, their affection existed from that time. 
Dr. Green died in 1863, and his daughter Leti- 
tia came to live with her married sister, Mrs. 
Matthew Scott, at Chenoa, Illinois. This place 
lay in the line of Mr. Stevenson's route as district 
attorney. He had kept up the acquaintance by 
letter, and now called frequently on the young 
lady during his horseback journeys about the dis- 
trict. These days of courtship had their natural 
result in a proposal and acceptance, and on De- 
cember 20th, 1866, his marriage to Miss Green 

379 



38o 



LIFE OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 



took place at Mrs. Scott's house, the ceremony 
benig- performed by the Rev. Dr. Craii^, of Chi- 
caoro. 

The happy couple made their way to I)loomuig- 
ton, where they received an enthusiastic welcome. 
From there they made a wedding journey to 
Kentucky, visiting a. I the old scenes and most of 
the old friends, who now could be found In almost 
every town of that State. Tney were a handsome 
couple, Mrs. Stevenson b-^ing a most favorable 
example of Western beauty and refinement, while 
Kentucky never raised a man of more present- 
able personal appearance than her husband, cl- 
one with more true manliness of soul and more 
devoted public spirit. 

The home of the Stevensons, wldiin which they 
have lived for the past six or eight years, Is a 
modest two-story brick residence on the principal 
street of Bloomlngton. It has a porch and a broad 
piazza along half its front and extending back the 
full lenorth of both its sides, while It stanJs back 
from the street, with a sylvan surrounding of trees 
and bushes. On both sides are broad, open 
lawns, and in front extends Franklin Square, the 
well-wooded public breathing place of Blooming- 
ton. The house has a hallway extending through 
its centre, is modestly but comfortably furnished, 
and the taste of the inmates is shown in a good 
display of books and pictures. 

The Stevenson homestead Is made attractive 



D OME S i IC L IFE. ^ g I 

by the presence of four children, three daughters 
and one son. The daughters — JuHa, Mary, and 
Ledtia by name — are still young, Letitia, the 
youngest, being but i6, while Julia is not yet 20. 
They are all pretty, vivacious, and of joyous dis- 
positions, and BiOomington knows no livelier and 
happier home. The son, Louis, is 23 years of 
age, and none too strong. While preparing for 
Yale College, he was injured during a hunting 
excursion by the bursting of his gun, being so 
seriously hurt that for a year and a half he was 
not able to leave the house. Recently he has 
spent some time in Southern California, and wi h 
decided advantage to his health, having returned 
home very greatly improved. 

The other members of the family consist of 
Mrs. Stevenson, now a matronly lady, of amiable 
and benevolent countenance, and devoted to 
home interests, and Mr. Stevenson's aged 
mother, now %i years of age. The old lady has 
a fervent admiration of her son, and with reason, 
for, to quote her own words, " My boy was 
always what I would wish him to be. He loved 
me, and words were never necessary to make me 
know it. His acts prove it. He was dutiful ; 
he was honest; he was a good boy, and he has 
been a good man." 

The old lady's eulogy is in no sense misplaced ; 
her son is undeniably a good man, and one of the 
most genial and sociable that can be found in the 



-,§2 LIFE OF AD LAI K. STEVENSON. 

wide West. He has an exhaustless fund of wit 
and humor, and during his younger days was 
known and admired as the wit of that portion of 
Illinois. His enjoyment of a joke has never left 
him, and his laugh rings out as cheerily now on 
hearing a good story as it did 20 years ago. He 
is fond of music, is devoted to his family, 
and loves nothino;- better than to oather them 
around him, not as the stern parent, but as 
the warm sympathizer in all their joys and sor- 
rows. In brief, we may say that their residence 
is a typical American home, and that there is no 
family in the land more admirable for the per- 
sonal and social qualities of its inmates. As re- 
gards the respect in which Mr. Stevenson is held 
by the citizens of his district nothing need be 
said. They have testified to it by voting for him 
without regard to party, and by their unanimous 
delight in his recent nomination to the exalted 
office of Vice-President. 




WxM. S. HQLHAN. 



PRINCIPLES 



Democratic Party 



PRINCIPLES 



DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF WASHINGTON. 

WASHINGTON lived before the days 
of party politics. He exemplified his 
principles by his conduct, whether at 
the head of the army or of the civil Administra- 
tion. He had studied well the principles of free 
governments in former ages and was well 
grounded in the faith. In his Farewell Address to 
the American people he left a legacy any party 
might well be proud of Not because he was at 
the head of a so-called Democratic or Republican 
or any party, but because the few fundamental 
principles upon which rested the perpetuity of the 
Union which he announced have always been a 
part of the faith of the Democracy, does it become 
appropriate here to insert those principles. No 
person can be a sound Democrat who cannot o-ive 
unqualified assent to them. In substance he 
announced the following principles : — 

25 385 



^35 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

"The union of the government is the main 
pillar in the edifice of our real independence : 
the support of our tranquillity at home, our peace 
abroad ; of our safety and our prosperity, yea, of 
the very liberty all so highly prize." 

He warned his countrymen that from different 
causes and from different quarters great pains 
would be taken (as was the case three-quarters of 
a century after that), and many artifices would be 
employed to weaken In the minds of the people 
the conviction of this great truth. He told them 
that this was a point in their political fortress 
against which the batteries of internal and exter- 
nal enemies would most constantly and most 
actively, though covertly and insidiously, direct 
their assaults. 

He entreated them to cherish a cordial, habitual, 
and Immovable attachment to the Union, accus- 
toming them to think and speak of it as the pal- 
ladium of their political safety and prosperity, 
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, 
discountenancino- whatever miofht even sues^est a 
suspicion that it could in any event be abandoned, 
and indignantly frown upon the first dawning of 
every attempt to alienate any portion of our coun- 
trymen from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred 
ties which link together the various parts of our 
common country. 

Whether he called himself a Democrat or not 
makes no difference, this principle of cherishing 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. ^gy 

an absolute devotion to the existence of the Union 
under one form of government is a sacred Demo- 
cratic principle that must be subscribed to by 
every citizen of this great Republic who aspires 
to be called an American Democrat. It is be- 
cause Democrats have ever entertained the same 
convictions and (save by the men who called 
themselves Democrats, but had forgotten or dis- 
regarded the warning voice of Washington, and 
went into a rebellion against the Government, 
thereby seeking to destroy the Union) have ever 
been true to these principles, and above all other 
parties most profoundl)' impressed with the truth 
of this doctrine, that many of the most thought- 
ful men have ever been Democrats. 

Washington sought by most cogent arguments 
to impress upon his countrymen that all parts of 
the country. North, South, East, and West, \\?A a 
common destiny and a common interest in the 
general welfare of every other section, and be- 
cause each added strength and security to tlie 
other, and in this sense the Union was the main 
prop of our liberties, so that the love for one 
should endear to the people the preservation of 
the other, and thus become the primary object of 
patriotic desire. 

Democrats believe all this ; and though the party 
itself became distracted and many of its adher- 
ents were dragged into a rebellion, still, so soon 
as military force was overcome and the conviction 



^gg DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

of the mind could be freely exercised, even those 
again became as ardently attached to the Union 
as any other portion of our people, and since the 
close of the war have sought, by every means 
within their power, to bring together and bind 
more closely the whole people of this Union in 
the bonds of a fraternal brotherhood of States. 

Washington warned his countrymen against sec- 
tionalism. He cautioned them that designing 
men, as they ever have, would endeavor to excite 
a belief that there was a real difference ©f local 
interests and views. He said one of the expedi- 
ents of partyisms would be to acquire influence 
in one particular section by misrepresenting the 
opinions and aims of another section, and that 
they could not shield themselves too much against 
the jealousies and heart-burnings aroused by 
these misrepresentations, tending to alienate the 
sections from each other instead of binding them 
more closely together with fraternal regard and 
affection, bringing about the opposite result. It 
is because we have seen the Democratic party en- 
deavoring by every possible means In Its power 
to Inculcate these same great truths, while its op- 
ponents have conducted themselves toward one 
section precisely In the way and manner suggested 
by Washington men would, that they are forced 
to be Democrats when true to their convictions 
of ricrht. 

He cautioned his countrymen against heaping 



DEMOCKATIC PRINCIPLES. ^gg 

up public debts for posterity to pay, thus ungen- 
erously throwing upon them burdens which we 
ourselves should pay. This whole business of 
bonded indebtedness is undemocratic and oueht 
pot to be indulged in if by any means it can be 
avoided. It is true that men callinor themselves 
Democrats have been led astray by the plausible 
arguments of those who regarded " public debts 
as public blessings," still the Democratic party, as 
such, has ever denounced the practice, and be- 
cause they have always coincided with him in this 
particular they are Democrats. 

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence, 
he conjured his fellow- citizens, their jealousy 
ought to be constantly awake. Numerous oppor- 
tunities would be offered, he said, to tamper with 
domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduc- 
tion, to mislead public opinion, to influence public 
councils. 

No attachment, therefore, for one nation to the 
exclusion of another should be tolerated. 

Such conduct would lead to concessions to one 
nation and denials of privileges to others, and 
would invite a multitude of evils upon us. 

It is because this has been a fundamental prin- 
ciple of the Democratic party, who most heartily 
believe in the doctrine, hence they are Democrats. 

Washington also advised his countrymen to re- 
sist with care the spirit of innovation upon the 
principles on which the Government was founded, 



^QQ DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

however specious the pretext might be. One 
method of assault would be, he said, to effect 
under the forms of the Constitution alterations 
which would impair the whole system. It is be- 
cause the Democratic party, impressed by the 
truth of these teachings of Washington, has op- 
posed the numerous amendments constantly being 
proposed that they are Democrats, believing that 
in this they adhere more strictly to the teachings 
of Washington than any other party. 



A 



CHAPTER II. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF JEFFERSON. 

LTHOUGH in his time not called "a 
Democrat," yet the leader of what was 
then known as the Republican party, con- 
tending against the Federal or strong govern- 
ment party, Thomas Jefferson was perhaps one 
of the best expounders of those principles now 
held by the Democratic party among all of those 
Revolutionary sages. 

In his writines and official messaoes as PresI- 
dent we find the most frequent allusions to and 
rigid application of them in the administration of 
public affairs, so that he has been called " the 
father of the Democratic party." It was pecu- 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. ^gj 

liarly appropriate that he should do so, because, 
though early in the history of our Government 
yet, anti-democratic principles were already slowly 
creeping into the administration of public affairs 
under the Administration of the elder Adams, so 
tiiat it required vigorous opposition and deter- 
mined application to bring the Government back 
once more to be administered in accordance with 
those pure principles of a representative demo- 
cratic government. 

In his inaugural address, delivered to Congress 
on March 4th, 1801, the commencement as well 
of a new century as of a new era in our govern- 
ment, President Jefferson announced the follow- 
ing fundamental doctrines of democracy, which, 
he said, he deemed essential principles of our 
Government, which should guide him in its admin- 
istration. He compressed them within the smallest 
possible compass, stating only the general prin- 
ciples, but not all their limitations: — 

First. Equal and exact justice to all men of what- 
ever vState or persuasion, religious or political. 

Second. Peace, commerce, and honest friend- 
ship with all nations ; entangling alliance with 
none. 

Third. The support of the State govern- 
ments in all their rights as the most competent 
administrators of our domestic concerns and the 
surest bulwarks against anti-republican tenden- 
cies. 



^^2 DEMOCRATIC PKIAXIPLES. 

Fourth. The preservation of the General Gov- 
ernment in its whole constitutional vigor as the 
sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety 
abroad. 

FiftJi. A jealous care of the right of election 
by the people, a mild and safe corrective of 
abuses, which are lopped by the sword of revolu- 
tion where peaceable means are unprovided. 

Sixth. Absolute acquiescence in the decisions 
of the majority, the vital principles of republics, 
from which is no appeal but to force, the vital 
principle and immediate parent of despotism. 

Seventh. A well-disciplined militia, our best 
reliance in peace, and for the first moments of 
war, till regulars may relieve them. 

Eighth. The supremacy of the civil over the 
military authority. 

Ninth. Economy in the public expenses, that 
labor many be lightly burdened. 

Tenth. The honest payment of our debts and 
the sacred preservation of the public faith. 

Eleventh. Encouracrement of acrriculture and 
of commerce as its handmaid. 

Twelfth. The diffusion of information and 
arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public 
reason. 

Thirteenth. Freedom of relieion. 

Fourteenth. Freedom of the press. 

Fifteenth. Freedom of the person under the 
protection oi llie habeas corpus. 



DEMOCRATIC PKhXCxPLES. -g- 

Sixteenth. Trial by juries impartially selected. 

" These principles," said Jefferson, " form the 
bright constellation which has gone before us and 
guided our steps through the age of revolution 
and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and 
the blood of our heroes have been devoted to 
their attainment. They should be the creed of 
our political faith, the text of civic instruction, 
the touchstone by which to try the services of 
those we trust ; and should we wander from them 
in moments of error or alarm, let us hasten to 
retrace our steps and to regain the road which 
alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety." 

It is because Democrats believe every one of 
those fundamental principles to be true that they 
are Democrats. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF MADISON. 

DEMOCRATS believe in a full, unequivocal 
and hearty support of the Constitution, in 
a strict construction of it, and in the spirit 
and the purpose for which it was formed, and in 
Madison, also, who took such a deep interest in 
its formation as to be called " the father of the 
Constitution," they have another exponent of 
sound Democratic principles. 



^Q. DEMOCRATIC PRL\C1PLES. 

He knew well the principles on which that Con- 
stitution was founded. He had studied the rise, 
progress, decay, and fall of every free govern- 
ment which had gone before, and, profiting by the 
very misfortunes of other nations, he had secured 
in the adoption of our Constitution such principles 
as he fondly believed would prevent us as a people 
from falling into similar errors. Standing upon 
the threshold of his great office as President of 
the United States, succeeding Jefferson, he an- 
nounced the following as additional principles 
vital to the welfare of the American people in 
their intercourse with foreign nations. They were 
in part but the echoes which came from the lips 
of Washington and Jefferson, and became the 
policy of the Democratic party ever since. He 
announced them as follows : — 

First. To cheris peace and friendly intercourse 
with all nations having a corresponding disposi- 
tion. 

Second. To maintain sincere neutrality toward 
belligerent nations. 

Third. To prefer in all cases amicable discus- 
sions and reasonable accommodation of differences 
to a decision of them by an appeal to arms. 

Fom^th. To exclude foreign intrigues and for- 
eign parualities, so degrading to all countries and 
so baneful to free ones. 

Fifth. To foster a spirit of independence, too 
just to Invade the rights of others, too proud to 



DEMOCRATIC PRIXC/PLES. ^g^ 

surrender our own, too liberal to indulge unworthy 
prejudices ourselves, and too elevated not to look 
down upon them in others. 

Sixth. To hold the Union of the States as the 
basis of their peace and happiness. 

Seventh. To support the Constitution, which Is 
the cement of the Union, as well in its limitations 
as in its authorities. 

Eighth. To respect the rights and authorities 
reserved to the States and the people as equally 
incorporated with and essential to the success of 
the general system. 

Ninth. To avoid the slightest Interferences with 
the rights of conscience or the functions of reli- 
gion, so wisely exempted from civil jurisdiction. 

Tenth. To preserve in their full energy the 
salutary provisions in behalf of private and per- 
sonal rights and the freedom of the press. 

Eleventh. To observe economy In public ex- 
penditures. 

Twelfth. To liberate public resources by an 
honorable discharge of the public debts. 

Thirteenth. To keep within the requisite limits 
a standing military force, always remembering 
that an armed and trained militia Is the firmest 
bulwark of republics. 

Fourteenth. Tiiat without standing armies, their 
liberties can never be In danger, nor with large 
ones, safe. 

Fifteenth. To promote, by authorized means, 



^gg DEMOCRATIC PRIXCIPLES. 

improvements friendly to agriculture, to commerce, 
to manufactures, and to external as well as inter- 
nal commerce. 

Sixteenth. To favor, In like manner, the ad- 
vancement of science and diffusion of information 
as the best aliment of true liberty. 

Seventeenth. To carry on benevolent plans for 
the conversion of our aboriginal neighbors from 
the degradation and wretchedness of savacre life to 
a participation of the improvements of which the 
human mind and manners are susceptible in a 
civilized state. 

In one of his messages he also laid down the 
principle that a well-instructed people alone can 
be permanently free, all of which Democrats de- 
voutly believe. 



CMAPTER IV. 

THE PRINXIPLES OF JACKSON. 

IN the principles of Andrew Jackson the De- 
mocracy take great pride. From his inaugu- 
ral address, on March 4th, a. d. 1829, to the 
close of his Administration of eight years, in every 
message to Con^rress he uttered Democratic sen- 
timents in a terse, vigorous style, which, on ac- 
count of their self-evident truth, deeply rooted 
themselves in American hearts and became the 



DEMOCRATIC PRIXCIPL^S. ^^y 

principles of the Democratic party, which during 
his Administration first took that name and which 
it has held ever since. They are found scattered 
all through his messages, and were his guide in 
deciding all questions of national policy, so many 
of which pressed themselves upon him during his 
term of office. From these the following may be 
selected and placed in order, which should be 
thoroughly studied and applied to all questions 
which may even now arise. 

First. He said: " Regard should be had for the 
rights of the several States, taking care not "to 
confound the powers reserved to them with th^se 
they had in the Constitution granted to the Gen- 
eral Government. 

Second. In every aspect of the case advantao-e 
must result from strict and faithful economy in the 
administration of public affairs. 

Third. He declared the unnecessary duration 
of the public debt incompadble with real inde- 
pendence. 

Fourth. In the adjustment of a ca riff for reve- 
nue, he insisted that a spirit of equity, caution, and 
compromise requires the great interests of agri- 
culture, manufactures, and commerce to be equally 
favored. 

Fifth. He admitted the policy of internal im- 
provements to be wise only in so far as they could 
be promoted by constitutional acts of the General 
Government. 



2Qg DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

Sixth. He declared standine armies to be dan- 
gerous to free government, and that the mihtary 
should be in strict subordination to the civil power. 

Seventh. He declared the national militia to be 
the bulwark of our national defense. In enforcing 
this principle, he declared that so long as the 
Government was administered for the orood of the 
people and regulated by their will ; so long as it 
secured to the people the rights of person and of 
property, liberty of conscience and of the press, 
the Government would be worth defending, and 
so- long as it was worth defending the patriotic 
militia would cover it with an impenetrable cegis. 

Eighth, He pledged himself to the work of 
reform in the Administration, so that the patronage 
of the General Government, which had been 
brought into conflict with the freedom of elections 
and had disturbed the rightful course of appoint- 
ments by continuing in power unfaithful and in- 
competent public servants, should no longer be 
used for that purpose. 

Ninth. He declared his belief in the principle 
that the integrity and zeal of public officers would 
advance the interests of the public service more 
than mere numbers. 

Te7ith. He declared the right of the people to 
elect a President, and that it was never designed 
that their choice should in any case be defeated 
by the intervention of agents, enforcing this 
principle by saying, what experience had amply 




HON. W. R. MORRISON. 



DEMOCRATIC rRINCTPLES. ^qq 

proved, that in proportion as agents were multi- 
plied to execute the will of the people, there was 
the danger increased that their wishes would 
be frustrated. Some 7nay be unfaithful — all liable 
to err. So far, then, as the people were con- 
cerned, it was better for them to express their 
own will. 

Eleventh. The majority should govern. No 
President elected by a minority could so success- 
fully discharge his duties as he who knew he was 
supported by the majority of the people. 

Twelfth. He advocated rotation in office. Cor- 
ruption, he said, would spring up among those in 
power, and, therefore, he thought appointments 
should not be made for a longer period than four 
years. Everybody had equal right to office, and 
he favored removals as a leading principle which 
would give healthful action to the political system. 

Thirteenth. He advocated unfettered com- 
merce, free from restrictive tariff laws, leaving it 
to flow into those natural channels in which indi- 
vidual enterprise, always the surest and safest 
ofuide, miofht direct it. 

Fourteenth. He opposed specific tariffs, be- 
cause subject to frequent changes, generally pro- 
duced by selfish motives, and under such Influ- 
ences could never be just and equal. 

Fifteenth. The proper fostering of manufac- 
tures and commerce tended to increase the value 
of agricultural products. 



400 DEMOCRATIC PRJXCIPLES. 

Sixteenth. In cases of real doubt as to matters 
of mere public policy he advocated a direct ap- 
peal to the people, the source of all power, as the 
most sacred of all obligations and the wisest and 
most safe course to pursue. 

Seventeenth, He advocated a just and equita- 
ble bankrupt law as beneficial to the country at 
lartre, because after the means to discharge debts 
had entirely been exhausted, not to discharge 
them only served to dispirit tlie debtor, sink him 
into a state of apathy, make him a useless drone 
in society, or a vicious member of it, if not a feel- 
ing witness of the rigor and inhumanity of his 
country. Oppressive debt being the bane of en- 
terprise, it should be the care of the Republic not 
to exert a grinding power over misfortune and 
poverty. 

EigJiteenth. He declared in favor of the prin- 
ciple that no money should be expended until first 
appropriated for the purpose by the Legislature. 
The people paid the taxes, and their direct repre- 
sentatives should alone have the right to say what 
they should be taxed for, in what sums, and how 
and when it should be paid. 

Nineteenth. He utterly opposed the system of 
Government aiding private corporations in mak- 
ing internal improvements. It was deceptive and 
conducive of improvidence in the expenditure of 
public moneys. For this purpose appropriations 
could be obtained with orreater facilities, granted 



DEMOCRATIC PRlNCirLES. 40 f 

with inadequate- security, and frequently compli- 
cated the admlnstration of (government. 

Twc7itieth. The operations of the General Gov- 
ernment should b- stricdy confined 10 the few 
simple but important objects for which it was origi- 
nally designed. 

fiuenty-first. He favored the veto power in the 
Executive, hit only to be exercised in cases of at- 
tempted violaton of the Constitution, or in cases 
next to it in importance. 

Tiuenty-second. He advocated State rights as 
far as consistent wi'h the rightful action of the 
General Governnvmt as the very best means of 
preserving harmony b tween them ; and pro- 
nounced this the tru(^ faith, and the one to which 
might be mainly attributed the success of the en- 
tire system, and to which alone we must look for 
stability in it. 

Twenty-third. He advocated "a uniform and 
sound currency," but doubted the constitutionality 
and expediency of a National Bank ; and after- 
ward made his Administradon famous by suc- 
cessful opposing the renewal of its charter. 

Twenty-fourth. Precious metals as the only cur- 
rency known to the Constitudon. Their peculiar 
properties rendered them the standard of values 
in other countries, and had been adopted in th s. 
The experience of the evils of paper money had 
made it so obnoxious in the past that the framers 
of the Consdtudon had forbidden its adoption as 
the legal tender currency of the country. 



402 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

Variableness must ever be the characteristic of 
a currency not based upon those metals. Expan-. 
sion and contraction, without regard to principles 
which regulate the value of those metals as a 
standard in the general trade of the world, were, 
he said, extremely pernicious. 

Where these properties are not infused into the 
circulation, and do not control it, prices must vary 
according to the tide of the issue ; the value and 
stability of property exposed, uncertainty attend 
the administration of institutions constantly liable 
to temptations of an interest distinct from that of 
the community at large, all this attended by loss 
to the laboring class, who have neither time nor 
opportunity to watch the ebb and flow of the 
money market. 

Twe7ity-fifth. He renews his advocacy of a 
cheerful compliance with the will of the majority ; 
and the exercise of the power as expressed in a 
spirit of moderation, justice and brotherly kind- 
ness as the best means to cement and forever pre- 
serve the Union. Those, he closes, who advocate 
sentiments adverse to those expressed, however 
honest, are, in effect, the worst enemies of their 
country. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF TILDEN. 

TH E fundamental principles of liberty 
adapted to a republican form of govern- 
ment were thus laid down by Washington, 
Jefferson, Madison, and Jackson, and carried out 
by a long line of public men in legislation and 
the concerns of government. Among the men 
who did much to preserve and maintain these 
principles of popular government, in which the 
relations of the General Government to the States 
and the relation of both to the people were pre- 
served in true adjustment, was Samuel J. Tilden, 
elected President in 1876 by the people and by 
a majority of the honestly chosen electors, and 
defrauded of the office as the successful result of 
a dastardly conspiracy. 

Mr. Tilden began to take an active part in the 
discussion of serious political questions as -early 
as 1833, when the question of the right of a State 
to nullify the laws of the United States was the 
dominant one. He had early been brought into 
close personal and political association with Mar- 
tin Van Buren, Silas W^right, and other leaders of 
the Democratic party in the State of New York, 
and by their advice contributed to the discussion 
of the issues tb.en uppermost in the public mind. 

403 



404 ^^^^ ^^ G ROVER CLEVELAND. 

From that time, when he contributed to the local 
newspapers of his native county, until his death 
in 1886, his letters, speeches, and legal arguments 
form a body of constitudonal interpretation which, 
in both quandty and value, are of the highest im- 
portance to the student of political nistory. It is 
difficult to make any selection from all this body 
of Tilden's writings which will fairly represent 
him, but the following extracts give a fair idea of 
his devotion to his country and to Democratic 
principles : 

*' It is no part of the duty of the State to coerce 
the individual man, except so far as his conduct 
may affect others, not reniotely and consequen- 
tially, but by violating rights which legislation can 
reco-nize and undertake to protect." 



•' The reason why self-government is better 
than government by any one man, or by a foreign 
people, is that the policy evolved by this process 
is generally better adapted to the actual condition 
of the society on which it is to operate." 



** Every business, every industrial interest, is 
paralyzed under excessive taxation, false systems 
of finance, extravagant cost of protection, dimin- 
ished ability to consume." 



"These taxes, when laid on imports in the man- 
ner in which they were laid in the Congressional 



THE PRINCIPLES OF TILDEN. 405 

carnival of manufacturers which framed our 
present tariff, cause a misapplication of industry 
that charges on the consumer what neither the 
Government is able to collect as taxes, nor the 
manufacturer to appropriate as profits. They 
lessen the productive power of human labor as if 
God had cursed it with ungenial climate or sterile 
soil." 



" There is no royal road for a government more 
than for an individual or a corporation. What 
you want to do is to cut down your expenses and 
live within your income. I would give all the 
legerdemain of finance and financiering — I would 
give the whole of it — for the old homely maxim, 
'Live within your income.'" 



'' Disunion and centralization are equally fatal 
to good government." 



" When the two ideas of personal gain and the 
bestowal of office are allowtd to be in our mind 
at the same time they will become associated, and 
it is but a step to the sale of the greatest trusts. 
Intellect, training, and virtue will soon succumb to 
wealth. Vulgar millionaires will grasp the highest 
seats of honor and power as they would put a 
new emblazonment on their carriages or a gaudy 
livery on their servants." 



4o6 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



** Principles are the test of political character. 
The Democracy always made fidelity to official 
trust and justice to the toiling masses who earn 
their bread by the sweat of their brow a funda- 
mental article in their party creed." 



" I myself never lost courage, never lost my 
belief that the element of human society which 
seeks for what is good is more powerful, if we 
will trust it, than all those selfish combinations 
that would obtain unjust advantage over the 
masses of the people." 



"Whoever obstructs the means of payment ob- 
structs also the facilities of sale. We must relax 
our barbarous revenue system so as not to retard 
the natural processes of trade. We must no 
longer legislate against the wants of humanity 
and the beneficence of God." 



" The pecuniary sacrifices of the people are not 
to be measured by the receipts into the Treasury. 
They are vastly greater. A tax that starts in its 
career by disturbing the productive power of la- 
bor, and then comes to the consumer distended 
by profits of successive intermediaries and by in- 
surance aorainst the risks of a fickle or uncertain 

o 

govermental policy and of a fluctuating govern- 
mental standard ofvalue, blights human well-being 
at every step. When it reaches the hapless child 



THE PRINCIPLES OF TILDEN. 407 

of toil who buys his bread by the single loaf and 
his fuel by the basket, it devours his earnings and 
inflicts starvation." 



•'The Constitution of the United States is by 
its own terms declared to be perpetual. The 
government created by its acts, within the sphere 
of its powers, directly upon each individual citiztm. 
No State is authorized, in any contingency, to 
suspend or obstruct that action, or to exempt any 
cidzen from the obligadon to obedience. Any 
pretended act of nullificadon or secession where- 
by such effect is attempted to be produced is ab- 
solutely void." 

.( :■: ::: Qur wlse aucestors warned us against 
standing armies and all those false systems of 
government which require standing armies. They 
formed the Union of the States that we might be 
free from the jealousies of coterminous countries, 
wdiich has been the usual pretext of tyrants for 
maintaining costly military establishments. They 
founded that Union on the principles of local 
self-government, to be everywhere carried on by 
the voluntary co operadon of the governed. They 
did not intend that one part of our country should 
govern another part." 



'• * * The destrucdon of all local self-govern- 
ment in a country so extensive as ours, and em- 



4o8 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 



bracing such elements of diversity in habits, man- 
ners, opinions, and interests, and the exercises by 
a single centralized authority of all the powers of 
society over so vast a region and over such pop- 
ulation would entail upon us an indefinite series 
of civic commotions, and repeat here the worst 
crimes and worst calamities of history." 



*' Our wise ancestors warned us that this grand 
experiment in self-government would turn on the 
intelligence and virtue of the people, and that 
our efforts to cultivate and elevate must be com- 
mensurate with our diffusion of political rights 
and political powers. It is a great partnership in 
self-government. Every man yields a share in 
the government of himself to every other man, 
and acquires a share in the government over that 
other man." 



" The immigrants who have contributed so much 
to swell the population of our Northern States 
spring from the same parent stocks with ourselves. 
They come to rejoin their kindred. Races have 
a growth and culture as well as individuals. What 
a race has been many centuries in accumulating 
is often appropriated and developed in an indi- 
vidual life, in the ascent from the humblest origin 
to the highest attainments of the species. Our 
accessions are drawn from races which has lived 
under essentially the same climatic infiuences 



THE PRINCIPLES OF TILDE N. 409 

with ourselves, which have attained the highest 
civiHzation and made the largest progress in the 
arts and industries of mankind. They are at- 
tract?ed here by their aspirations for civil liberty, 
or for the improvement of their personal condi- 
tion ; and every aspiration ennobles. They are 
well represented in all our occupations which call 
for intellect and culture, and even the portion 
which come to fill the ranks of raw labor, made 
vacant by tb.e ascent to more skilled and more 
remunerative employments, which our universal 
education opens to all, show a capacity quickly to 
follow in the noble competition for improvement." 



"There is no instrumentality in human society 
so potential in its influence upon mankind, for 
good or ( vil, as the governmental machinery for 
administering justice and for making and execu- 
ting laws. Not all the eleemo-ynary institutions 
of private benevolence to which philanthropists 
may devote their li\ es, are so fruitful in benefits 
as the rescue and preservation of this machinery 
from the perversions that make it the instrument 
of conspiracy, fraud, and crime against the most 
sacred rights and interests of the people." 



" Every power is a trust and involves a duty." 



" All history shows that reform in Government 
must not be expected from those who sit serenely 



4IO 



LIFE OF G ROVER CLFVELAXD. 



on the social mountain tops, enjoying the benefits 
of the existing" order of things. Even the Divine 
Author of our rehgion found His followers, not 
among the self-complacent Pharisees, but among 
lowly minded fishermen." 



"■ The Republican party is largely made up of 
those who live by their wits, and who aspire in 
politics to advantages over the rest of mankind 
similar to those which their daily lives are devoted 
to securing in private business. 

**The Democratic party consists largely of those 
who live by the work of their hands, and whose 
political action is governed by their sentiments or 
imagination. 

"It results that the Democratic party, more read- 
ily than the Republican party, can be molded to 
the support of reform measures which involve a 
sacrifice of selfish interests." 



F 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PRINCIPLES OF TARIFF REFORM. 

OLLOWING is the famous message of 
December, 1887, sent by President Cleve 
land to the first session of the Fiftieth Con- 
gress : — 
To the Congress of the United States: — 

You are confronted at the threshold of your 
leo-islative duties with a condition of the national 
finances which imperatively demands immediate 
and careful consideration. 

The amount of money annually exacted, through 
the operation of present laws, from the industries 
and necessities of the people, largely exceeds the 
sum necessary to meet the expenses of the Gov- 
ernment. 

When we consider that the theory of our insti- 
tutions guarantees to every citizen the full enjoy- 
ment of all the fruits of his industry and enter- 
prise, with only such deduction as may be his 
share toward the careful and economical main- 
tenance of the Government which protects him, it 
is plain that the exaction of more than this is in- 
defensible extortion, and a culpable betrayal of 
American fairness and justice. This wrong in- 
flicted upon those who bear the burden of national 

411 



412 



DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 



taxation, like other wrongs, multiplies a brood of 
evil consequences. The public treasury, which 
should only exist as a conduit conveying the 
people's tribute to its legitimate objects of expend- 
iture, becomes a hoarding-place for money need- 
lessly withdrawn from trade and the people's use, 
thus crippling our national energies, suspending 
our country's development, preventing investment 
in productive enterprise, threatening financial dis- 
turbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder. 

This condition of our treasury is not altogether 
new ; and it has more than once of late been sub- 
mitted to the people's representatives in the Con- 
gress, who alone can apply a remedy. And yet 
the situation still continues, with aggravated inci- 
dents, more than ever presaging financial convul- 
sion and widespread disaster. 

It will not do to neglect this situation because 
its dangers are not now palpably imminent and 
appan nt. They exist none the less certainly, and 
await the unforeseen and unexpected occasion 
when suddeiily they will be precipitated upon us. 

On the 30th day of June, 1885, the excess of 
revenues over public expenditures after comply- 
ing with the annual requirement of the sinking- 
fund act, was $17,859,735.84; during the year 
ended June 30th, 1886, such excess amounted to 
$49,405,545.20 ; and during the year ended June 
30th, 1887, it reached the sum of $55,567,849.54. 

The annual contributions to the sinking fund 



DEMOCRATIC PAVAC/PLES. 



413 



during the three years above specified, amountlncr 
in the aggregate to $138,058, 320.94, and deducted 
from the surplus as stated, were made by calling 
in for that purpose outstanding three per cent, 
bonds of the Government. Durincr the six months 
prior to June 30th, 1887, the surplus revenue had 
grown so large by repeated accumulations, and it 
was feared the withdrawal of this great sum of 
money needed by the people, would so affect the 
business of the country, that the sum of $79,864,- 
100 of such surplus was applied to the payment 
of the principal and interest of the three per cent, 
bonds still outstanding, and which were then pay- 
able at the option of the Government. The pre- 
carious condition of financial affairs among the 
people still needing relief, immediately after the 
30th day of June, 1887, the remainder of the three 
per cent, bonds then outstanding, amounting with 
principal and interest to the sum of $18,877,500, 
were called in and applied to the sinking-fund con- 
tribution for the current fiscal year. Notwi:h- 
standing these operations of the Treasury De- 
partment, representations of distress in business 
circles not only continued but increased, and 
absolute peril seemed at hand. In these circum- 
stances the contribution to the sinking fund for 
the current fiscal year was at once completed by 
the expenditure of $27,684,283.55 in the purchase 
of Government bonds not yet due bearing four 
and four and a half per cent, interest, the pre- 



4 1 4 DEMOCRA TIC PRINCTPL ES. 

mium paid thereon averaging about twenty-four 
per cent, for the former and eight per cent, for 
the latter. In addition to this the interest accru- 
ing during the current year upon the outstanding 
bonded indebtedness of the Government was to 
some extent anticipated, and banks selected as 
depositories of public money were permitted to 
somewhat increase their deposits. 

While the expedients thus employed to release 
to the people the money lying idle in the Treasury 
served to avert immediate danger, our surplus 
revenues have continued to accumulate, the excess 
for the present year amounting on the first day of 
December to $55,258,701.19, and estimated to 
reach the sum of $1 1 3,000,000 on the 30th of June 
next, at which date it is expected that this sum, 
added to prior accumulations, will swell the sur- 
plus in the Treasury to $140,000,000. 

There seems to be no assurance that, with such 
a withdrawal from use of the people's circula- 
ting medium, our business community may not in 
the near future be subjected to the same distress 
which was quite lately produced from the same 
cause. And while the functions of our National 
Treasury should be few and simple, and while its 
best condition would be reached, I believe, by its 
entire disconnection with private business inter- 
ests, yet when, by a perversion of its purposes, it 
idly holds money uselessly subtracted from the 
channels of trade, there seems to be reason for the 




CHARLES F. CRISP, 
Speaker of tlie House. 



DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 



415 



claim that some legitimate means should be de- 
vised by the Government to restore in an emer- 
gency, without waste or extravagance, such money 
to its place among the people. 

If such an emergency arises there now exists 
no clear and undoubted executive power of relief. 
Heretofore the redemption of three per cent, bonds, 
which were payable at the option of the Govern- 
ment, has afforded a means for the disbursement 
of the excess of our revenues ; but these bonds 
have all been retired, and there are no bonds out- 
standing the payment of which we have the right to 
insist upon. The contribution to the sinking fund 
which furnishes the occasion for expenditure in 
the purchase of bonds has been already made for 
the current year, so that there is no outlet in that 
direction. 

In the present state of legislation the only pre- 
tense of any existing executive power to restore, 
at this time, any part of our surplus revenues to 
the people by its expenditure, consists in the suppo- 
sition that the Secretary of the Treasury may enter 
the market and purchase the bonds of the Govern- 
ment not yet due, at a rate of premium to be 
agreed upon. The only provision of law from 
which such power could be derived is found in 
an appropriation bill passed a number of years 
ago ; and it is subject to the suspicion that it was 
intended as temporary aad limited in its applica- 
tion, instead of conferring a continuing discretion 



4 1 6 DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 

and authority. No condition ought to exist which 
would justify the grant of power to a single offi- 
cial, upon his judgment of its necessity, to withhold 
from or release to the business of the people, in an 
unusual manner, money held in the Treasury, and 
thus affect, at his will, the financial situation of the 
country ; and if it is deemed wise to lodge in the 
Secretary of the Treasury the authority in the 
present juncture to purchase bonds, it should be 
plainly vested, and provided, as far as possible, 
with such checks and limitations as will define this 
official's right and discretion, and at the same 
time relieve him from undue responsibility. 

In considering the question of purchasing bonds 
as a means of restoring to circulation the surplus 
money accumulating in the Treasury, it should be 
borne in mind that premiums must of course be 
paid upon such purchase, that there may be a 
large part of these bonds held as investments 
which cannot be purchased at any price, and that 
combinations among holders who are willing to 
sell, may unreasonably enhance the cost of such 
bonds to the Government. 

It has been suggested that the present bonded 
debt might be refunded at a less rate of interest, 
and the difference between the old and new se- 
curity paid in cash, thus finding use for the surplus 
in the Treasury. The success of this plan, it is 
apparent, must depend upon the volition of the 
holders of the present bonds ; and it is not entirely 



DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 



417 



certain that the inducement which must be offered 
them would result in more financial benefit to the 
Government than the purchase of bonds while the 
latter proposition w^ould reduce the principal of the 
debt by actual payment; instead of extending it. 

The proposition to deposit the money held by 
the Government in banks throughout the country, 
for use by the people, is, it seems to me, exceed- 
ingly objectionable in principle, as establishing too 
close a relationship between the operations of the 
Government Treasury and the business of the 
country, and too extensive a commingling of their 
money, thus fostering an unnatural reliance in 
private business upon public funds. If this scheme 
should be adopted, it should only be done as a 
temporary expedient to meet an urgent neces- 
sity. Legislative and executive effort should gen- 
erally be in the opposite direction, and should have 
a tendency to divorce, as much and as fast as can 
safely be done, the Treasury Department from 
private enterprise. 

Of course it is not expected that unnecessary 
and extravagant appropriations will be made for 
the purpose of avoiding the accumulation of an 
excess of revenue. Such expenditure, beside the 
demoralization of all just conceptions of public 
duty which it entails, stimulates a habit of reckless 
improvidence not in the least consistent with the 
mission of our people or the high and beneficent 
purposes of our Government. 



4i8 



DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 



I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the 
knowledge of my countrymen, as well as to the 
attention of their representatives charged with the 
responsibility of legislative relief, the gravity of 
our financial situation. The failure of the Congress 
heretofore to provide against the dangers which 
it was quite evident the very nature of the diffi- 
culty must necessarily produce, caused a condition 
of financial distress and apprehension since your 
last adjournment which taxed to the utmost all 
the authority and expedients within executive 
control ; and these appear now to be exhausted. 
If disaster results from the continued inaction of 
Congress, the responsibility must rest where it 
belongs. 

Thoucrh the situation thus far considered is 
fraught with danger which should be fully realized, 
and though it presents features of wrong to the 
people as well as peril to the country, it is but a 
result growing out of a perfectly palpable and 
apparent cause, constantly reproducing the same 
alarming circumstances — a congested national 
treasury and a depleted monetary condition in the 
business of the country. It need hardly be stated 
that while the present situation demands a remedy, 
we can only be saved from a like predicament in 
the future by the removal of its cause. 

Our scheme of taxation, by means of which 
this needless surplus is taken from the people and 
put in the public treasury, consists of a tariff or 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 419 

duty levied upon Importations from abroad, and 
internal revenue taxes levied upon the consump- 
tion of tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors. 
It must be conceded that none of the things sub- 
jected to internal revenue taxation are, strictly 
speaking, necessaries ; there appears to be no just 
complaint of this taxation by the consumers of 
these articles, and there seems to be nothing- so 
well able to bear the burden without hardship to 
any portion of the people. 

But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequi- 
table and illogical source o{ unnecessary taxation, 
ou^ht to be at once revised and amended. These 
laws, as their primary and plain effect, raise the 
price to consumers of all articles imported and 
subject to duty, by precisely the sum paid for such 
duties. Thus the amount of the duty measures the 
tax paid by those who purchase for use these im- 
ported articles. Many of these things, however, 
are raised or manufactured in our own country, 
and the duties now levied upon foreign goods and 
products are called protection to these home 
manufactures, because they render it possible for 
those of our people who are manufacturers to 
make these taxed articles and sell them for a price 
equal to that demanded for the imported goods 
that have paid customs duty. So it happens that 
while comparatively a few use the imported articles, 
millions of our people, who never use and never 
saw any of the foreign products, purchase and use 



420 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 



things of the same kind made in this country, and 
pay therefor nearly or quite the same enhanced 
price which the duty adds to the imported articles. 
Those who buy imports pay the duty charged there- 
on into the pubHc treasury, but the great majority 
of our citizens, who buy domestic articles of the 
same class, pa)' a sum at least approximately equal 
to this duty to the home manufacturer. This ref- 
erence to the operation of our tariff laws is not 
made by way of instruction, but in order that we 
may be constandy reminded of the manner in 
which they impose a burden upon those who con- 
sume domestic products as well as those who con- 
sume imported articles, and thus create a tax upon 
ail our people. 

It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country 
of this taxation. It must be extensively continued 
as the source of the Government's income; and 
in a readjustment of our tariff the interests of 
American labor eneaofed in manufacture should 
be carefully considered, as well as the preservadon 
of our manufacturers. It may be called protection, 
or by any other name, but relief from the hard- 
ships and dangers of our present tariff laws should 
be devised with especial precaution against imperil- 
ing the existence of our manufacturino^ interests. 
But this existence should not mean a condition 
which, without regard to the public welfare or a 
national exigency, must always insure the realiza- 
tion of immense profits instead of moderately 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 42 1 

profitable returns. As the volume and diversity 
of our national activities Increase, new recruits are 
added to those who desire a continuation of the 
advantages which they conceive the present system 
of tariff taxation directly affords them. So stub- 
bornly have all efforts to reform the present con- 
dition been resisted by those of our fellow-citizens 
thus engaged, that they can hardly complain of the 
suspicion, entertained to a certain extent, that 
there exists an organized combination all along 
the line to maintain their advantage. 

We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, 
and with becomino pride we rejoice in American 
skill and ingenuity, in American energy and en- 
terprise, and In the wonderful natural adyantages 
and resources developed by a century's national 
growth. Yet when an attempt is made to justify a 
scheme which permits a tax to be laid upon every 
consumer in the land for the benefit of our manu- 
facturers, quite be^'ond a reasonable demand for 
governmental regard, it suits the purposes of ad- 
vocacy to call our manufactures infant industries, 
still needing- the highest and greatest degree of 
favor and fostering care that can be wrung from 
Federal legislation. 

It is also said that the increase In the price of 
domestic manufcictures resulting from the present 
tariff is necessary in order that higher wages may 
be paid to our workingmen employed in manufac- 
tories than are paid for what is called the pauper 



422 



DEMOCRATIC rKLXCIPLES. 



labor of Europe. All will acknowledge the force 
of an argument which involves the welfare and 
liberal compensation of our laboring people. Our 
labor is honorable in the eyes of every Ameri- 
can citizen; and as it lies at the foundation of our 
development and progress, it is entitled, without 
affectation or hypocrisy, to the utmost regard. 
The standard of our laborers' life should not be 
measured by that of any other country less fa- 
vored, and they are entitled to their full share of 
all our advantages. 

By the last census it is made to appear that of 
the 17,392,099 of our population engaged in all 
kinds of industries 7,670,493 are employed in 
agriculture, 4.074,238 in professional and personal 
service '(2,934,876 of whom are domestic servants 
and laborers), while 1,810,256 are employed in 
trade and transportation, and 3,837.1 i 2 are classed 
as employed in manufacturing and mining. 

For present purposes, however, the last number 
given should be considerably reduced. Without 
attempting to enumerate all, it will be conceded 
that there should be deducted from those which it 
includes 375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401 
milliners, dressmakers and seamstresses, 172,726 
blacksmiths, 1 33. 756tailorsandtailoresses, 102,473 
masons, 76,241 butchers,4i,309bakers, 22,083 plas- 
terers, and 4891 engaged in manufacturing agri- 
cultural implements, amounting in the aggregate to 
1,214,023, leaving 2,623,089 persons employed in 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES, 423 

such manufacturing industries as are claimed to be 
benefited by a higii tariff. 

To these the appeal is made to save their em- 
ployment and maintain their wages by resisting a 
change. There should be no disposition to answer 
such suggestions by the allegation that theyare in 
a minority among those who labor, and therefore 
should forego no advantage, in the interest of low 
prices for the majority ; their compensation, as it 
may be affected by the operation of tariff laws, 
should at all times be scrupulously kept in view ; 
and yet with slight reflection they will not overlook 
the fact that theyare consumers with the rest; 
that they, too, have their own wants and -those of 
their families to supply from their earnings, and 
that the price of the necessaries of life, as well as 
theamount of their wages, will regulate the meas- 
ure of their welfare and comfort. 

But the reduction of taxation demanded should 
be so measured as not to necessitate or justify 
either the loss of employment by the working- 
man nor the lessening of his waees : and the 
profits still remaining to the manufacturer, after a 
necessary readjustment, should furnish no excuse 
for the sacrifice of the interests of his employes 
either in their opportunity to work or in the dimi- 
nution of their compensation. Nor can the worker 
in manufactures fail to understand that while a 
high tariff is claimed to be necessary to allow the 



424 DEMOCRATIC rKIAXIPLES. 

payment of remunerative wages, it certainly re- 
sults in a very large increase in the price of nearly 
all sorts of manufactures, which, in almost count- 
less forms, he needs for the use of himself and his 
family. He receives at the desk of his employer 
his wages, and perhaps before he reaches his 
home is obliged, in a purchase for family use of 
an article which embraces his own labor, to return 
in the payment of the increase in price which the 
tariff permits, the hard-earned compensation of 
many days of toil. 

The farmer and the agriculturist who manufac- 
turenothing,butwho pa)the increased pricewhich 
the tariff imposes, upon every agricidturat imple- 
ment, upon all he wears and upon all he uses and 
owns, except the increase of his ilocks and herds, 
and such things as his husbandry produces from 
the soil, is invited to aid in maintaining the pres- 
ent situation ; and he is told that a high duty on 
imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those 
who have sheep to shear, in order that the price 
of their wool may be increased. They of course 
are not reminded that the farmer who has no sheep 
is by this scheme obliged, in his purchases of cloth- 
ing and woolen goods to pay a tribute to his 
fellow farmer as well as to the manufacturer and 
merchant; nor is any mention made of the fact 
that the sheep owners themselves and their house- 
holds must wear clothino^ and use other articles 



DEMOCRA TIC PRINCIPLES. 



425 



manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff 
prices, and thus as consumers must return their 
share of this increased price to the tradesman. 

I think it may be fairly assumed that a large 
proportion of the sheep owned by the farmers 
tlirouo-hout the country are found in small flocks 
numbering from twenty-five to fifty. The duty on 
the grade of imported wool which these sheep 
yield is ten cents each pound if of the value of 
thirty cents or less, and twelve cents if of the value 
of more than thirty cents. If the liberal esdmate 
of six pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty 
t'hereon would be sixty or seventy- two cents, and 
this may be taken as the utmost enhancement of 
its price to the farmer by reason of this duty. 
Eighteen dollars would thus represent the in- 
creased price of tlu^ wool from twenty-five sheep 
and thirty-six dollars that from the wool of fifty 
sheep ; and at present values this addition 
would amount to about one-third of its price. If 
upon its sale the farmer receives this or a less 
tariff profit, the wool leaves his hands charged 
with precisely that sum, which in all its changes 
will adhere to it, until it reaches the consumer. 
When manufactured into cloth and other eoods 
and material for use, its cost is not only increased 
to the extent of the farmer's tariff profit, but a fur- 
ther sum has been added for the benefit of the 
manufacturer under the operation of other tariff 
laws. In the meantime the day arrives when the 



426 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

farmer finds it necessary to purchase woolen 
goods and material to clothe himself and family 
for the winter. When he faces the tradesman for 
that purpose he discovers that he is obliged not 
only to return in the way of increased prices his 
tariff profit on the wool he sold, and which then 
perhaps lies before him in manufactured form, but 
that he must add a considerable sum thereto to 
meet a further increase in cost caused by a tariff 
duty on the manufacture. Thus in the end he is 
aroused to the fact that he has paid upon a moder- 
ate purchase, as a result of the tariff scheme, which, 
when he sold his wool seemed so profitable, ari 
increase in price more than sufficient to sweep 
away all the tariff profit he recieved upon the wool 
he produced and sold. 

When the number of farmers enoraored in wool- 
raising" is compared with all the farmers in the 
country, and the small proportion they bear to our 
population is considered ; when it is made appar- 
ent that, in the case of a large part of those who 
own sheep, the benefit of the present tariff on 
wool is illusory; and, above all, when it must be 
conceded that the increase of the cost of living 
caused by such tariff becomes a burden upon those 
with moderate means and the poor, the employed 
and unemployed, the sick and well, and the young 
and old, and that it constitutes a tax which, with 
relentless grasp, is fastened upon the clothing of 
every man, woman and child in the land, reasons 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 427 

are suo^eested why the removal or reduction of 
this duty should be included in a revision of our 
tariff laws. 

In speaking of the increased cost to the con- 
sumer of our home manufactures, resulting from 
a duty laid upon imported articles of the same 
description, the fact is not overlooked that com- 
petition among our domestic producers sometimes 
has the effect of keeping the price of their pro- 
ducts below the highest limit allowed by such duty. 
But it is notorious that this competition is too 
often strangled by combinations quite prevalent 
at this time, and frequently called trusts, which 
have for their object the regulation of the supply 
and price of commodities made and sold by mem- 
bers of the combination. The people can hardly 
hope for any consideration in the operation of 
these selfish schemes. 

If, however, in the absence of such combination, 
a healthy and free competition reduces the price 
of any particular dutiable article of home produc- 
tion below the limit which it might otherwise reach 
under our tariff laws, and if, with such reduced 
price, its manufacture continues to thrive, it is 
entirely evident that one thing has been discovered 
which should be carefully scrutinized in an effort 
to reduce taxation. 

The necessity of combination to maintain the 
price of any commodity to the tariff point, fur- 
nishes oroof that some one is wilhng to accept 



428 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

lower prices for such commodity, and that such 
prices are remunt:rative ; and lower prices pro- 
duced by competition prove the same thing. Thus, 
where either of these conditions exist, a case would 
seem to be presented for an easy reduction of 
taxation. 

The considerations which have been presented 
touching our tariff laws are intended only to en- 
force an earnest recommendation that the surplus 
revenues of the Government be prevented by the 
reduction of our customs duties, and, at the same 
time, to emphasize a suggestion that in accom- 
plishing this purpose, we may discharge a double 
duty to our people by granting to them a measure 
of relief from tariff taxation in quarters where it 
is most needed and from sources where it can 
be most fairly and justly accorded. 

Nor can the presentation made of such consid- 
erations be, with any degree of fairness, regarded 
as evidence of unfriendliness toward our manu- 
facturing interests, or of any lack of appreciation 
of their value and importance. 

These interests constitute a leadino^ and most 
substantial element of our national crreatness and 
furnish the proud proof of our country's progress. 
But if in the emergency that presses upon us our 
manufacturers are asked to surrender somethinor 
for the public good and to avert disaster, their pa- 
triotism, as well as a irrateful recognition of advan- 
tages already afforded, should lead them tq vvjljjng 



DEMOCRAT IC PRIXCIPLF.S. 429 

cooperation. No demand is made that diey shall 
forego all the benefits of governmental regard ; 
but they cannot fail to be admonished of their 
duty, as well as their enlightened self-interest and 
safety, when they are reminded of the fact that 
financial panic and collapse, to which the present 
condition tends, afford no greater sheltc^r or pro- 
tection to our manufactures than to our other im- 
portant enterprises. Opportunity for safe, care- 
ful and deliberate reform is now offered ; and none 
of us should be unmindful of a time when an 
abused and irritated people, heedless of those who 
have resisted timely and reasonable relief, may 
insist upon a radical and sweeping rectification of 
their wrongs. 

The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision 
of our tariff laws is not under-estimated. It will 
require on the part of the Congress great labor 
and care, and especially abroad and national con- 
templation of the subject, and a patriotic disregard 
of such local and selfish claims as are unreasonable 
and reckless of the welfare of the entire country. 

Underour present laws more than four thousand 
articles are subject to duty. Many of these do not 
in any way compete wath our owm manufactures, 
and many are hardly worth attention as subjects 
of revenue. A considerable reduction can be 
made in the aggregate, by adding them to the free 
list. The taxation of luxuries presents no features 
of liardship; but the necessaries of life used and 



430 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 

consumed by all the people, the duty upon which 
adds to the cost of living in every home, should 
be greatly cheapened. 

The radical reduction of the duties imposed upon 
raw material used in manufactures, or its free im- 
portation, is of course an important factor in any 
effort to reduce the price of these necessaries ; it 
would not only relieve them from the increased 
cost caused by the tariff on such material, but the 
manufactured product being thus cheapened, that 
part of the tariff now laid upon such product, as 
a compensation to our manufacturers for the 
present price of raw material, could be accord- 
ingly modified. Such reduction, or free importa- 
tion, would serve, beside, to largely reduce the 
revenue. It is not apparent how such a change 
can have an injurious effect upon our manufac- 
turers. On the contrary, it would appear to give 
them a better chance in foreiorn markets with the 

o 

manufacturers of other countries, who cheapen 
their wares by free material. Thus our people 
might have the opportunity of extending their 
sales bej^ond the limits of home consumption — 
saving them from the depression, interruption in 
business, and loss caused by a glutted domestic 
market, and affording their employes more certain 
and steady labor, with its resulting quiet and con- 
tentment. 

The question thus imperatively presented for 
solution should be approached in a spirit higher 



SENATOR A. P. GORMAN. 



DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES. 



431 



than partisanship and considered In the Hght of 
that regard for patriotic duty which should char- 
acterize the action of those intrusted with the weal 
of a confiding people. But the obligation to 
declared party policy and principle Is not wanting 
to urge prompt and effective action. Both of the 
great political parties now represented In the 
Government have, by repeated and authoritative 
declarations, condemned the condition of our laws 
which permit the collection from the people of 
unnecessary revenue, and have, in the most solemn 
manner, promised its correction ; and neither as 
citizens nor partisans are our countrymen In a 
mood to condone the deliberate violation of these 
pledges. 

Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not 
be improved by dwelling upon the theories of pro- 
tection and free trade. This savors too much of 
bandying epithets. It Is a condition which con- 
fronts us — not a theory. Relief from this condi- 
tion may involve a slight reduction of the advan- 
tages which we award our home productions, but 
the entire withdrawal of such advantages should 
not be contemplated. The question of free trade 
is absolutely irrelevant: and the persistent claim 
made in certain quarters, that all efforts to relieve 
the people from unjust and unnecessary taxation 
are schemes of so-called free-traders, Is mischiev- 
ous and far removed from any consideration for 
the public good. 



432 



DF.MOCRA lie PRIXCIPLES. 



The simple and plain duty which we owe the 
people is to reduce taxation to tlie necessar)' ex- 
penses of an economical operation of the Govern- 
ment, and to restore to the business of the country 
the money which we hold in the Treasury through 
the perversion of governmental powers. These 
thinos can and should be done with safetv to all 
our industries, without danger to the opportur.ity 
for remunerative labor which our workingmen 
need, and with benefit to them and all our people, 
by cheapening their means of subsistence and 
increasing the measure of their comforts. 

The Constitution provides that the President 
" shall, from time to time, give to the Congress 
information of the state of the Union." It has 
been the custom of the Executive, in compliance 
with this provision, to annually exhibit to the Con- 
gress, at the opening of its session, the general 
condition of the country, and to detail, with some 
particularity, the operations of the different Ex- 
ecutive Departments. It would be especially agree- 
able to follow this course at the present time, and 
to call attention to the valuable accomplishments 
of these Departments during the last fiscal year. 
But I am so much impressed with the paramount 
importance of the subject to which this communi- 
cation has thus far been devoted, that I shall 
forego the addition of any other topic, and only 
urge upon your immediate consideration the 
" state of the Union" as shown in the present 



DEMOCRATIC PRL\'CIPLES. 433 

condition of our treasury and our general fiscal 
situation, upon which every element of our safety 
and prosperity depends. 

The reports of the heads of Departments, which 
will be submitted, contain full and explicit infor- 
mation touchinor the transaction of the business 
intrusted to them, and such recommendations 
relating to legislation in the public interest as the\- 
deem advisable. I ask for these reports and 
recommendations the deliberate examination and 
action of the Lei^islative branch of the Govern- 
ment. 

There are other subjects not embraced in the 
departmental reports demanding legislative con- 
sideration and which I should be o^lad to submit. 
Some of them, however, have been earnestly pre- 
sented in previous messages, and as to them I 
beg leave to repeat prior recommendations. 

As the law makes no provision for any report 
from the Department of State, a brief history of 
the transactions of that important Department, 
together with other matters which it may here- 
after be deemed essential to commend to the 
attention of the Congress, may furnish the occa- 
sion for a future communication. 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 




ION. ISAAC P. (IRAY. 



LIVES 



All the Presidents 



UNITED STATES, 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS 
A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE NATION'S HISTORY 



GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

FIRST President of the United States, was 
born in Westmoreland County, Virginia, 
on the 22d of February, 1732. He was 
the son of Augustine Washington, a wealthy 
planter, and his second wife, Mary Ball. John 
Washington, the great-grandfather of the illus- 
trious subject of this sketch, emigrated from Eng- 
land and settled in Virginia about 1657. George 
Washinofton's father died when he was in his 
eleventh year, leaving him in the care of his 
mother, a woman of marked strength of charac- 
ter. She was worthy of her trust. From her he 
acquired that self-restraint, love of order, and 
strict regard for justice and fair dealing, which, 
with his inherent probity and truthfulness, formed 
the basis of a character rarely equaled for its 
simple, yet commanding nobleness. 

Apart from his mother s training, the youthful 
Washington received only the ordinary country- 

439 



440 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

school education of the time, never having attended 
college, or taken instruction in the ancient Ian- 
eua^res. He had no inclination for any but the 
most practical studies, but in these he was remark- 
ably precocious. When barely sixteen Lord Fair- 
fax, who had become greatly interested in the 
promising lad, engaged him to survey his vast 
estates lying in the wilderness west of the Blue 
Ridge. So satisfactory was his performance of 
this perilous and difficult task, that, on its comple- 
tion, he was appointed Public Surveyor. This 
office he held for three years, acquiring consider- 
able pecuniary benefits, as well as a knowledge 
of the country, which was of value to him in his 
subsequent military career. 

When only nineteen, Washington was appointed 
Military Inspector of one of the districts into which 
Virginia was then divided. In November, 1753, 
he was sent by Governor Dinwiddie on a mission 
to the French posts, near the Ohio River, to ascer- 
tain the designs of France in that quarter. It was 
a mission of hardship and peril, performed with 
rare prudence, sagacity, and resolution. Its bril- 
liant success laid the foundation of his fortunes. 
"From that time," says Irving, "Washington was 
the rising hope of Virginia." 

Of Washington's services in the resulting war, 
we cannot speak in detail. An unfortunate mili- 
tary expedition to the frontier was followed by a 
campaign under Braddock, whom he accompanied 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. ,,, 

441 

as aid-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, In his 
march against Fort Duquesne. That imprudent 
General, scorning the advice of his youthful aid, 
met disastrous defeat and death. In the batde, 
Washington's coat was pierced by four bullets. 
His bravery and presence of mind alone saved 
the army from total destruction. 

Washington, on his return, was appointed com- 
mander-in-chief of all the troops of the colony, 
then numbering about two thousand men. This 
was in 1755, when he was but little more than 
twenty-three years of age. Having led the Vir- 
ginia troops in Forbes' expedition in 1758, by 
which Fort Duquesne was captured, he resigned 
his commission, and, in January, 1759, married 
Mrs. Martha Custis {iiee Dandridge), and settled 
down at Mount Vernon, on the Potomac, which 
estate he had inherited from his elder brother 
Lawrence, and to which he added until it reached 
some eiofht thousand acres. 

The fifteen years following his marriage were, 
to Washington, years of such happiness as is 
rarely accorded to mortals. It was the halcyon 
period of his life. His home was the centre of a 
generous hospitality, where the duties of a busy 
planter and of a Judge of the County Court were 
varied by rural enjoyments and social intercourse. 
He managed his estates with prudence and econ- 
omy. He slurred over nothing, and exhibited, 
even then, that rigid adherence to system and 



. . 2 ^^'^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

accuracy of detail, which subsequently marked his 
performance of his public duties. 

In the difficulties which presently arose between 
Great Britain and her American Colonies, Wash- 
ington sympathized deeply with the latter, and 
took an earnest, though not specially prominent 
part in those movements which finally led to the 
War of Independence. In the first general Con- 
gress of the Colonies, which met in Philadelphia, 
on the 5di of September, 1774, we find the name 
of W^ashington among the Virginia Delegates. 
As to the part he took in that Congress, we can 
only judge from a remark made by Patrick Henry, 
also a Delegate: ''Colonel Washington," said the 
great orator, " was undoubtedly the greatest man 
on that floor, if you speak of solid information and 
sound judgment." 

In the councils of his native province, we also 
get glimpses of his calm and dignified presence. 
And he is ever on the side of the Colonies — mod- 
erate, yet resolute, hopeful of an amicable adjust- 
ment of difficulties, yet advocating measures look- 
ing to a final appeal to arms. 

At lenorth the storm broke. The Battle of 
Lexington called the whole country to arms. 
While in the East the rude militia of New Eng- 
land beleaguered Boston with undisciplined but 
stern determination, Congress, in May, 1775, met 
a second time in Philadelphia. A Federal Union 
was formed and an army called for. As chair- 



GE OR GE WA SHIXG TON. 



443 



man of the various Committees on Military Affairs, 
Washington drew up most of the rules and regu- 
lations of the army, and devised measures for 
defense. The question now arose — By whom 
was the army to be led ? Hancock, of Massa- 
chusetts, was ambitious of the place. Sectional 
jealousies showed themselves. Happily, how- 
ever, Johnson, of Maryland, rising in his seat, 
nominated Washington. The election was by 
ballot, and unanimous. Modestly expressing sin- 
cere doubts as to his capability, Washington 
accepted the position with thanks, but refused to 
receive any salary. " I will keep an exact account 
of my expenses," he said. " These I doubt not 
Congress will discharcje. That is all I desire.'* 

On the 15th of June he received his commis- 
sion. Writing a tender letter to his wife, he 
rapidly prepared to start on the following day 
to the army before Boston. He was now in the 
full vigor of manhood, forty-three years of age, 
tall, stately, of powerful frame and commanding 
presence. " As he sat his horse with manly 
grace," says Irving, " his military bearing de- 
lighted every eye, and wherever he went the air 
rune with acclamations." 

On his way to the army, Washington met the 
tidings of the Batde of Bunker Hill. When told 
how bravely the militia had acted, a load seemed 
lifted from his heart. " The liberties of the coun- 
try are safe !" he exclaimed. On the 2d of July 



444 ^^'^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

he took command of the troops, at Cambridge, 
Mass., the entire force then numberinor about 
15,000 men. It was not until March, 1776, that 
the siege of Boston ended in the withdrawal of 
the British forces. Washington's admirable con- 
duct of this siege drew forth the enthusiastic ap- 
plause of the nation. Congress had a gold medal 
struck, bearing the effigy of Washington as the 
Deliverer of Boston. 

Hastening to defend New York from threat- 
ened attack, Washington there received, on the 
9th of July, 1776, a copy of the "Declaration of 
Independence," adopted by Congress five days 
previously. On the 2 7di of the following month 
occurred the disastrous batde of Long Island, the 
misfortunes of which were retrieved, however, 
by Washington's admirable retreat, one of the 
most brilliant achievements of the war. Again 
defeated at White Plains, he was compelled to 
retire across New Jersey. On the 7th of De- 
cember he passed to the west side of the Dela- 
ware, at the head of a dispirited army of less than 
four thousand effective men. many of them with- 
out shoes, and leaving tracks of blood in the 
snow. This was the darkest period of the war 
But suddenly, as if inspired, Washington, in the 
midst of a driving storm, on Christmas night re- 
crossing the Delaware, now filled with floating 
ice, gained in rapid succession the brilliant vic- 
tories of Trenton and Princeton, thus changing 



GEORGE IVA^II/NGTO.V. ^ ,r 

the entire aspect of affairs. Never were victories 
better timed. The waning hopes of the people 
in their cause and their commander were at once 
restored as if by magic. 

It is not possible, in this necessarily brief 
sketch, to give the details of the agonizing strug- 
gle in which Washington and his little army were 
now involved. Superior numbers and equip- 
ments often Inflicted upon him disasters which 
would have crushed a less resolute spirit. 
Cheered, however, by occasional glimpses of vic- 
tory, and wisely taking advantage of what his 
troops learned in hardship and defeat, he was at 
length enabled, by one sagacious and deeply 
planned movement, to bring the war virtually to 
a close In the capture of the British army of 
7,000 men, under Cornwallis, at Yorktown, on 
the 19th of October, [781. 

The tidings of the surrender of Cornwallis 
filled the country with joy. The lull in the ac- 
tivity of both Congress and the people was not 
viewed with favor by Washington. It was a 
period of peril. Idleness in the army fostered 
discontents there, which at one time threatened 
the gravest mischief. It was only by the utmost 
►'exertion that Washington induced the malcon- 
'^.ents to turn a deaf ear to those who were at- 
-^iemptlng, as he alleged, " to open the flood-gates 
of civil discord, and deluge our rising empire 
with blood." 



44^ ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

On September 3d, 1 783, a treaty of peace was 
signed at Paris, by which the complete indepen- 
dence of the United States was secured. On the 
23d of December following, Washington for- 
mally resigned his command. The very next 
mornine he hastened to his beloved Mount Ver- 
non, arriving there that evening, in time to enjoy 
the festivities which there greeted him. 

Washington was not long permitted to enjoy 
his retirement. Indeed, his solicitude for the per- 
petuity of the political fabric he had helped to 
raise he could not have shaken off if he would. 
Unconsciously, it might have been, by his letters 
to his old friends still in public life, he continued 
to exercise a powerful influence on national affairs. 
He was one of the first to propose a remodeling 
of the Articles of Confederation, which were now 
acknowledged to be insufficient for their purpose. 
At length, a convention of delegates from the 
several States, to form a new Constitution, met at 
Philadelphia, in May, 1787. Washington pre- 
sided over its session, which was long and stormy. 
After four months of deliberation was formed 
that Constitution under which, with some subse- 
quent amendments, we now live. 

When the new Constitution was finally ratified, 
Washington was called to the Presidency by the 
unanimous voice of the people. In April, 1 789, 
he set out from Mount Vernon for New York, 
then the seat of Government, to be inaugurated. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON-, j.y 

" His progress," says Irving, " was a continuous 
ovation. The ringing of bells and the roaring of 
cannon proclaimed his course. Old and young, 
women and children, thronged the highways to 
bless and welcome him." His inauguration took 
place April 30th, i 789, before an immense multi- 
tude. 

The eight years of Washington's Administra- 
tion were years of trouble and difficulty. The 
two parties which had sprung up — the Federalist 
and the Republican — were gready embittered 
ao^ainst each other, each charcrinor die other with 
the most unpatriotic designs. No other man than 
Washington could have carried the country safely 
through so perilous a period. His prudent, firm, 
yet conciliatory spirit, aided by the love and ven- 
eration with which the people regarded him, kept 
down insurrection and silenced discontent. 

That he passed through this trying period 
safely cannot but be a matter of astonishment. 
The angry partisan contests, to which we have 
referred, were of themselves sufficient to dis- 
hearten any common man. Even Washington was 
distrustful of the event, so fiercely were the par- 
tisans of both pardes enlisted — the Federalists 
clamoring for a stronger government, the Repub- 
licans for addldonal checks on the power already 
intrusted to the Executive. Besides, the Revolu- 
tion then raging In France became a source of 
contention. The Federalists sided with England, 



448 



OUR FORMER FRE SIDE NTS. 



who was bent on crushing that Revolution, the 
Republicans, on the other hand, sympathized 
deeply with the French people : so that between 
them both, it was with extreme difficulty that the 
President could prevent our young Republic, bur- 
dened with debt, her people groaning under taxes 
necessarily heavy, and with finances, commerce, 
and the industrial arts in a condition of chaos, 
from beinor draeofed into a fresh war with either 
France or Eno^land. 

But^ before retiring from the Presidency, Wash- 
ington had the happiness of seeing many of the 
difficulties from which he had apprehended so much, 
placed in a fair way of final adjustment. A finan- 
cial system was developed which lightened the 
burden of public debt and revived the drooping 
energies of the people. The country progressed 
rapidly. Immigrants flocked to our shores, and 
the regions west of the Alleehanies beo^an to fill 
upo New States claimed admission and were 
received into the Union — Vermont, in 1791 ; Ken- 
tucky, in 1792 ; and Tennessee, in 1796 ; so that, 
before the close of Washington's second term, the 
original thirteen States had increased to sixteen. 

Having served two Presidential terms, Wash- 
ington, declining another election, returned once 
more to Mount Vernon, " that haven of repose to 
which he had so often turned a wistful eye," bear- 
ing with him the love and gratitude of his country-^ 
men, to whom, in his memorable " Farewell Ad 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. ^^o 

dress," he bequeathed a legacy of practical politi- 
cal wisdom which it will be well for them to 
remember and profit by. In this immortal docu- 
ment he insisted that tlu^ uni(jn of the States was 
"a main pillar" in the real Independence of the 
people. He also entreated them to "steer clear 
of any permanent alliances with any portion of 
the foreiorn world." 

At Mount Vernon Washington found constant 
occupation in the supervision of his various 
estates. It was while taking his usual round on 
horseback to look after his farms, that, on the i 2th 
of December, 1799, he encountered a cold, winter 
storm. He reached home chill and dam[). The 
next day he had a sore throat, with some hoarsc;- 
ness. By the morning of the 14th he could 
scarcely swallow. " I find I am going," said he to 
a friend. "I believed from the first tliat the 
attack would be fatal." That night, betwc-en ten 
and eleven, he expired, without a struggle or a 
sigh, In the sixty-eighth year of his age, his disease 
being acute laryngitis. Three days afterward 
his remains were deposited In the family tombs at 
Mount Vernon, where they still repose-. 

Washington left a reputation on which there is 

no stain. " His character," says Irving, " possessed 

fewer inequalides, and a rarer union of virtues 

than .perhaps ever fell to the lot of onr* man. 

* * * It seems as If Providence had endowed 

him In a pre-eminent degree with the qualities 
29 



450 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



requisite to fit him for the high destiny he was 
called upon to fulfill." 

In stature Washington was six feet two inches 
in height, well proportioned, and firmly built. 
His hair was brown, his eyes blue and set far 
apart. From boyhood he was famous for great 
strength and agility. Jefferson pronounced him 
"the best horseman of his age, and the most grace- 
ful fiorure that could be seen on horseback." He 
was scrupulously neat, gentlemanly, and punctual, 
and always dignified and reserved. 

In the resolution passed upon learning of his 
death, the National House of Representatives 
described \\\\\\ for the first time in that well-known 
phrase, " First in war, first in peace, and first in 
the hearts of his countrymen," — a tribute which 
succedinor o-enerations have continued to bestow 
upon Washington without question or doubt. By 
common consent to him is accorded as pre-emi- 
nendy appropriate the title, " Pater Patriae," — the 
" Father of his Country." 

Of Washington, Lord Brougham says : " It will 
'be the duty of the historian and the sage, in all 
ages, to omit no occasion of commemorating this 
illustrious man ; and until time shall be no more 
will a test of the progress our race has made in 
wisdom and virtue be derived from the veneration 
paid to the immortal name of Washington." 



JOHN ADAMS. ^-j 



JOHN ADAMS, 

SECOND President of the United States, 
was born at Braintree, now Oulncy, Mass., 
October 19th, 1 735. He was the eldest son 
oi John Adams, a farmer, and Susanna Boylston. 
Graduating from Harvard in i 755, he studied law, 
defraying his expenses by teaching. In 1764, hav- 
ing meanwhile been admitted to the bar, he mar- 
ried Miss Abigail Smith, a lady whose energy of 
character contributed largely to his subsequent 
advancement. 

As early as 1761, we find young Adams look- 
ing forward, with prophetic vision, to American 
Independence. When the memorable Stamp Act 
was passed in 1765, he joined heart and soul in 
opposition to it. A series of resolutions which he 
drew up against It and presented to the citizens of 
Braintree was adopted also by more than forty 
other towns in the Province. He took the ad- 
vanced grounds that it was absolutely void — 
Parliament havino- no ricrht to tax the Colonies. 

In 1 768 he removed to Boston. The rise of the 
young lawyer was now rapid, and he was the lead- 
ing man in many prominent cases. When, in Sep- 
tember, 1774, the first Colonial Congress met, at 
Philadelphia, Adams was one of the five Delegates 
from Massachusetts. In that Congress he took 
f». prominent part He it was who, on the 6th of 



,^2 ^^'^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

May, 1776, boldly advanced upon the path oi 
Independence, by moving " the adoption of such 
measures as would best conduce to the happiness 
and safety of the American people." It was 
Adams, who, a month later, seconded the resolu- 
tion of Lee, of Virginia, " that these United States 
are, and of right ought to be, independent." It 
was he who uttered the famous words, " Sink or 
swim, live or die, survive or perish, with my 
country is my unalterable determination." He, 
too, it was, v/ho, with Jefferson, Franklin, Sher- 
man, and Livingston, drew up that famous *' Dec- 
laration of Independence," which, adopted by Con- 
gress on the 4th of July, 1776, decided a question, 
" greater, perhaps, than ever was or will be de- 
cided anywhere." During all these years of 
engrossing public duty he produced many able 
essays on the rights of the Colonies. These ap- 
peared in the leading journals of the day and 
exerted wide influence. The motion to prepare 
a Declaration of Independence was opposed by a 
strong party, to the champion of which Adams 
made reply and Jefferson said, " John Adams was 
the ablest advocate and champion of indepen- 
dence on the floor of the House." 

Writing to his wife on. July 3d, 1776, and refer- 
ring to the Declaration of Independence, that day 
adopted, he forecast the manner of that day's 
celebration by bonfires, fireworks, etc., as " the 
i^reat anniversary festival." During all the years 



4 






s^^ 





^•^ 




\ 



HENRY WATTERSON 



JOHN ADA MS. ^ r 3 

of the war he was a most zealous worker and val- 
ued counselor. After its years of gloom and 
trial, on the 21st of January, 1783, he assisted in 
the conclusion of a treaty of peace, by which 
Great Britain acknowledged the complete inde- 
pendence of the United States. On the previous 
October, he had achieved what he ever regarded 
as the greatest success of his life — the formation 
of a treaty of peace and alliance with Holland, 
which had a most important bearing on the nego- 
tiations leading to the hnal adjustment with Eng- 
land. 

He was United States Minister to Eno-jand from 
1785 to 1788, and Vice-President during both the 
terms of Washington. 'During these years, as 
presiding officer of the Senate, he gave no less 
than twenty casting votes, all of them on ques- 
tions of great importance, and all supporting the 
policy of the President. Mr. Adams was himself 
inaugurated President on the 4th of March, 1797, 
having been elected over Jefferson by a small 
majority. Thomas Pinckney was nominated for 
the Vice-Presidency with him, they representing 
the Federal party, but in the Electoral College 
Thomas Jefferson received the choice and became 
Vice-President. He retained as his Cabinet the 
officers previously chosen by Washington. 

He came into office at a critical period. The 
conduct of the French Directory, in refusing to 
receive our ambassadors, and in trying to injure 



^cj, OCR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

our commerce by unjust decrees, excited Intense 
ill-feellne, and finally led to what Is known as "the 
Quasi War" with France. Congress now passed 
the so-called "Alien and Sedition Laws," by which 
extraordinary and, it is alleged, unconstitutional 
powers were conferred upon the President. 
Though the apprehended war was averted, the 
odium of these laws effectually destroyed the pop- 
ularity of Adams, who, on running for a second 
term, was defeated by Mr. Jefferson, representing 
the Republicans, who were the Democratic party 
of that day. On the 4th of March, 1801, he re- 
tired to private life on his farm near Quincy. His 
course as President had brought upon him the 
reproaches of both parties, and his days were 
ended in comparative obscurity and neglect. He 
lived to see his son, John Quincy Adams, in the 
Presidential chair. 

Bv a singular coincidence, the death of Mr. 
Adams and that of his old political rival, Jefferson, 
took place on the same day, and almost at the 
same hour. Stranger still. It was on July the 4th, 
1826, whilst bells were rincrinor and cannon roar- 
ing to celebrate the fiftieth Anniversary of the 
Declaration of Independence, their own immortal 
production, that these two men passed away. 
Mr. Adams was asked if he knew what day it w^as. 
"Oh! yes!" he exclaimed, "It Is the Fourth of 
July. God bless It! God bless you all! It Is a 
great and glorious day!" and soon after quietly 
expired, in the ninety-first year of his age. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 455 



Mr Adams possessed a vigorous and polished 
intellect, and was one of the most upright of men. 
His character was one to command respect, rather 
than to win affection. There was a certam lack 
of warmth in his stately courtesy which seemed 
tc forbid approach. Yet nobody, we are told, 
could know him intimately without admirmg the 
simplicity and trutli which shone in all his action.s 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

/-y^HOMAS JEFFERSON, who succeeded 
I Adams as President, was born at Shadwell, 
-i- Albermarle Coanty, Va., April 2d, 1743- 
i'cter Jefferson, his father, was a man of great 
lorce of character and of remarkably powerful 
Dhysique. His mother, Jane Randolph, was from 
a most respectable English family. He was the 
eldest of eight children. He became a classical 
student when a mere boy, and entered college in 
an advanced class when but seventeen years o 
a<re Having passed through college, he studied 
la"w under Judge Wythe, and in 1767 commenced 
practice. In 1 769, he was elected to the Virginia 
L e-islature. Three years later, he married Mrs. 
Ma'rtha Skelton, a rich, handsome, and accom- 
plished young widow, with whom he went to reside 
is new mansion at Monticello. near to the spot 



m 111 



'^nere he was born. His practice at the bar grew 



,^5 ^^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

rapidly and became very lucrative, and he early 
engaged in the poHtical affairs of his own State. 
For years the breach between England and her 
Colonies had been rapidly widening. Jefferson 
earnesdy advocated the right of the latter to local 
self-government, and wrote a pamphlet on the 
subject which attracted much attention on both 
sides of the Atlantic. By the spring of 1775 the 
Colonies were in revolt. We now find Jefferson 
in the Continental Congress — the youngest mem- 
ber save one. His arrival had been anxiously 
awaited. He had the reputation " of a matchless 
pen." Though silent on the Hoor, in committee 
'' he was prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive," 
Early in June, 1776, a committee, with Jefferson 
as chairman, was appointed to draw up a " Decla- 
ration of Independence." Unanimously urged by 
his associates to write it, he did so, Franklin and 
Adams, only, making a few verbal alterations. 
Jefferson has been charged with plagiarism in the 
composition of this ever-memorable paper. Vol- 
umes have been written on the subject; but those 
who have invesdgated the closest, declare that 
the Mecklenburg Declaration, from which he was 
charged with plagiarism, w^as not then in existence. 
Jefferson distinctly denies having seen it. Prob- 
ably, in preparing it, he used many of the popular 
phrases of the time ; and hence it was that it 
seized so quickly and so irresistibly upon the 
public heart. It was the crystallized expression 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. Ary 

of the .spirit of the age. Edward Everett pro- 
nounced this Declaration " equal to anything ever 
born on parchment or expressed in the visible 
sio^ns of thouorht." Bancroft declares, " The heart 
of Jefferson in writing it, and of Congress in 
adopting it, beat for all humanity." 

Chosen a second time to Congress, Jefferson 
declined the appointment, in order that he might 
labor in re-oroanizinof Vireinia. He therefore 
accepted a seat in the Legislature, where he 
zealously applied himself to revising the funda- 
mental laws of the State. The abolition of primo- 
geniture and the Church establishment was the 
result of his labors, and he was jusdy proud of 
it. No more important advance could have been 
made. It was a step from middle-age darkness 
into the broad light of modern civilization. 

In 1778, Jefferson procured the passage of a 
law prohibiting the further importation of slaves. 
The following year he was elected Governor, 
succeeding Patrick Henry In this honorable posi- 
tion, and at the close of his official term he again 
sought the retirement of Monticello. In 1782, 
shortly after the death of his beloved wife, he was 
summoned to act as one of the Commissioners to 
negotiate peace with England. He was not 
required to sail, liowever ; but, taking a seat In 
Congress, during the winter of 1783, he, who had 
drawn up the Declaration of Independence, was 
the hrst to officially announce its final triumph. 



^cg OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

At the next session of Congress, he secured the 
adoption of our present admirable system of coin- 
ai^e. As chairman of a committee to draft rules 
for the government of our Northwest Territory- 
he endeavored, but without success, to secure the 
prohibition of slavery therefrom forever. In May, 
1784, he was sent to Europe, to assist Adams and 
Franklin in nei^otiatinor treaties of commerce with 
foreign nations. Returning home in 1789, he 
received from Washington the appointment of 
Secretary of State, wliich office he resigned in i 793. 
He withdrew, says Marshall, " at a time when he 
stood particularly high in the esteem of his coun- 
trymen." His friendship for France, and his dis- 
like of England ; his warm opposition to the 
aggrandizement of the central power of the Gov- 
ernment, and his earnest advocacy of every mea- 
sure tending to enlarge popular freedom, had won 
for him a large following, and he now stood the 
acknowledged leader of the great and growing 
Anti-fedei-al party. 

Washington declining a third term, Adams, as 
we have already seen, succeeded him, Jefferson 
becominor Vice-President. At the next election, 
Jefferson and Burr, the Republican candidates, 
stood highest on the list. By the election law of 
that period, he who had the greatest number of 
votes was to be President, while the Vice-Presi- 
dency fell to the next higliest candidate. Jeffer- 
son and Burr having an equal number of votes, 



TTTOMAS JEFFERSON. ^^O 

it remained for the House of Representatives to 
decide which should be President. After a long 
and heated canvass, Jefferson was chosen on the 
thirty-sixth ballot. He was inaugurated, on the 
4th of March, 1801, at Washington, whither the 
Capitol had been removed a few months pre- 
viously. In 1804, he was re-elected by an over- 
whelming majority. At the close of his second 
term, he retired once more to the quiet of Monti- 
cello. 

The most Important public measure of Jeffer- 
son's Administration, to the success of which he" 
directed his strongest endeavors, was the pur- 
chase from France, for the insio^nlficant sum of 
;j^ 1 5,000,000, of the Immense Territory of Louisi- 
ana. It was during his Administration, too, that 
the conspiracy of Burr was discovered, and 
thwarted by the prompt and decisive action of the 
President. Burr's scheme was a mad one — to 
break up the Union, and erect a new empire, with 
Mexico as its seat. Jefferson is regarded as hav- 
ing initiated the custom of removing incumbents 
from office on political grounds alone. 

From the retirement into which he v/ithdrew at 
the end of his second term, Jefferson never 
emerged. His time was actively employed in 
the management of his property and in his exten^ 
sive correspondence. In establishing a Univer- 
sity at Charlottesville, Jefferson took a deep in- 
terest, devoting to It much of his time and means, 



.5o ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

He was proud of his work, and directed that the 
words " Father of the University of Virginia " 
should be inscribed upon his tomb. He died^ 
shortly after mid-day, on the Fourth of July, 
1826, a few hours before his venerable friend and 
compatriot, Adams. 

Jefferson was the very embodiment of the 
democracy he sought to make the distinctive feat- 
ure of his party. All titles were distasteful to 
him, even the prefix Mr. His garb and manners 
were such that the humblest farmer was at home 
in his society. He declared that in view of the 
existence of slavery he " trembled for his coun- 
try when he remembered that God is just." He 
was of splendid physique, being six feet two and 
a half inches in height, but well built and sinewy. 
His hair was of a reddish brown, his countenance 
ruddy, his eyes light hazel. Both he and his wife 
were wealthy, but they spent freely and died in- 
solvent, leaving but one daughter. 

His moral character was of the highest order. 
Profanity he could not endure, either in himself 
or others. He never touched cards, or strong 
drink in any form. He was one of the most 
generous of men, lavishly hospitable, and in 
everything a thorough gentleman. Gifted with 
an intellect far above the average, he had added 
to it a surprising culture, which ranked him 
among our most accomplished scholars. To 
his extended learning, to his ardent love of lib- 



JAMES MADISON. .^^ 

erty, and to his broad and tolerant views, is due 
much, very much, of whatever is admirable in our 
institutions. In ihem we discern everywhere 
traces of his master spirit. 



JAMES MADISON. 

WHEN Mr. Jefferson retired from the 
Presidency, the country was almost on 
the verge of war with Great Britain. 
Disputes had arisen in regard to certain restric- 
tions laid by England upon our commerce. A 
hot discussion also came up about the right 
claimed and exercised by the commanders of 
English war-vessels, of searching American ships 
and of taking from them such seamen as they 
might choose to consider natives of Great Britain. 
Many and terrible wrongs had been perpetrated 
in the exercise of this alleged rieht. Hundreds 
of American citizens had been ruthlessly forced 
into the British service. 

It was when the public mind was agitated by 
such outrages, that James Madison, the fourth 
President of the United States, was inaugurated. 
When he to.ok his seat, on the 4th of March, 
1809, he lacked but a few days of being fifty-eight 
years of age, having been born on the 15th of 
March, 1751. His father was Colonel James 
Madison, his mother Nellie Conway. He gradu- 



46: 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



ated at Princeton College, New Jersey, In I77i« 
after which he studied law. 

In his twenty-sixth year he had been a member 
of the Convention which framed the Constitution 
of Virginia ; In 1 780 had been elected to the 
Continental Congress, In which he at once took a 
commanding position ; had subsequently entered 
the Virginia Legislature, where he co-operated 
with his friend and neighbor, Jefferson, in the ab- 
rogation of entail and primogeniture, and In the 
establishment of religious freedom ; had drawn 
\ip the call In answer to which the Convention to 
Draught a Constitution for the United States met 
at Philadelphia in 1787, and had been one of the 
most active members of that memorable assem- 
blage in reconciling the discordant elements of 
which it was composed. He had also labored 
earnestly to secure the adoption of tlie iiew Con- 
stitution by his native State ; had afterward en- 
tered Congress ; and when Jefferson became 
President, In March, 1801, had beeji by him ap- 
pointed Secretary of State, a post he had declined 
when It was vacated by Jefferson In December, 
1 793. In this Important post for eight years, he 
won the highest esteem and confidence of the 
nation. Having been nominated by the Repub- 
licans, he was in 1808 elected to the Presidency, 
receiving one hundred and twenty-two electoral 
votes, while Charles C. PInckney, the Federal can 
»iidate, received but forty-seven. 



JAMES MADISON. .^^ 

In 1794, he married Mrs. Dorothy Todd, a 
young widow lady, whose bright intelhgence aiid 
lascinating manners were to gain her celebrity as 
j)ne of the most remarkable women who ever 
presided over the domestic arrangements of the 
Presidential Mansion. 

Of a weak and delicate constitution, and with 
the habits of a student, Mr. Madison would have 
preferred peace to war. But even he lost patience 
at the insults heaped upon the young Republic by 
it ancient mother ; and when, at length, on the 
18th of June, 1812, Congress declared war against 
Great Britain, he gave the declaration his official 
sanction, and took active steps to enforce it. 
Though disasters in the early part of the war 
greatly strengthened the Federal party, who were 
bitterly opposed to hostilities, the ensuing Presi- 
dential canvass resulted in the re-election of Mr. 
A[adison by a large majority, his competitor, De 
Witt: Clinton, receiving eighty-nine electoral votes 
to one hundred and twenty-eight for Madison. 
On the I 2th of August, 18 14, a British army took 
Washington, the President himseli narrowly esca 
ping capture. The Presidential Mansion, the Cap 
itol, and all the public buildings were wantonly 
burned. The 1 4th of December following, a treaty 
of peace was signed at Ghent, in which, however, 
England did not relinquish her claim to the righe 
of search. But as she has not since attempted to 
exercise it, the question may be regarded as hav- 
incr been finally settled bv the contest. 



</64 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



On the 4th of March, 181 7, Madison's second 
term having expired, he withdrew to private Hfe 
at his paternal home of Montpeher, Orange County, 
Va. During his administration, two new States 
bad been added to the Union, making the total 
number at this period nineteen. The first to 
claim admittance was Louisiana, in 181 2. It was 
formed out of the Southern portion of the vast 
Territory, purchased, during the Presidency of 
Jefferson, from F'rance. Indiana — the second 
State — was admitted in 181 6. 

After his retirement from office, Mr. Madison 
passed nearly a score of quiet years at Montpe- 
lier. With Jefferson, who was a not very distant 
neighbor, he co-operated in placing the Charlottes- 
ville University upon a substantial foundation. In 
1829, he left his privacy to take part In the Con- 
vention which met at Richmond to revise the 
Constitution of the State. His death took place 
on the 28th of June, 1836, in the eighty-fifth year 
of his age. 



JAMES MONROE. 

MADISON'S successor in the Presidential 
chair was James Monroe, whose Admin- 
istration has been called " the Era of 
Good Feeling," from the temporary subsidence at 
that time of party strife. He was a son of Spence 
Monroe, a planter. He was borp on his fathers 



1 JAMES MONROE. ^5^ 

plantation in Westmoreland Count}^ Va., on the 
28th of April, 1758. At the age of sixteen he 
entered William and Mary College; but when, 
two years later, the Declaration of Independence 
called the Colonies to arms, the young collegian, 
dropping his books, girded on his sword, and en- 
tered the service of his country. Commissioned 
a lieutenant, he took part in the battles of Harlem 
Heights and White Plains. In the attack on 
Trenton he was wounded in the shoulder, and for 
his bravery promoted to a captaincy. Subse- 
quently he was attached to the staft' of Lord Ster- 
ling with the rank of major, and fought by the 
side of Lafayette, when that officer was wounded 
at the battle of Brandywine, and also participated 
in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth. 
He was afterward given a colonel's commission, 
but, beinof unable to recruit a reeiment, beo-an the 
study of law in the office of Jefferson, then Gover- 
nor of Virginia. 

When only about twenty-three years old, he 
was elected to the Virginia Legislature. The next 
year he was sent to Congress. On the expiration 
of his term, having meanwhile married, in New 
York, Miss Kortright, a young lady of great 
intelligence and rare personal attractions, he re- 
turned to Fredericksburg, and commenced prac- 
tice as a lawyer. He espoused the cause of the 
Anti-Federal or Republican party, being thor- 
oughly democratic in his ideas, as was his eminenf 



466 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



preceptor, Jefferson. In i 789, he was elected to 
the United States Senate. In 1 794, he was ap- 
pointed mnilster-plenipotentiary to France, but 
recalled from his mission two years later because 
of his ^outspoken sympathies with the republicans 
of that country. 

Shortly after his return, Monroe was elected 
Governor of Virginia, which post he held for three 
years (i 799-1802). On the expiration of his 
official term, he was sent to co-operate with Ed- 
ward Livingston, then resident Minister at Paris, 
in negotiating the treaty by which the Territory of 
Louisiana was secured to the United States. In 
181 1, he was again elected Governor of Virginia, 
but presently resigned to become Madison's Sec- 
retary of State. 

During the period following the capture of 
Washington, September, 1814-March, 1815, he 
acted as Secretary of War, and did much to restore 
the nation's power and credit. He continued 
Secretary of State until March, 181 7, when he 
became President. He was chosen by the Dem- 
ocratic party, till then known as the Republican. 
He received one hundred and eighty-three elec- 
toral votes, his opponent, Rufus King, receiving 
but thirty- four votes. The violence of party spirit 
greatly abated during his first term, and he was 
re-elected In 1821, with but one dissenting vote 
out of the two hundred and thirty-two cast by the 
electoral college. On the 4th of March, 1825, he 



7 AMES MONROE. 



467 



retired to the quiet and seclusion of his estate at 
Oak Hill, in Loudon County, Virginia. 

During Monroe's Administration, the bound- 
aries of the United States were considerably 
enlarged by the purchase of Florida from Spain, 
Five new States were also admitted into the 
Union: Mississippi, in 181 7; Illinois, in 181 8; 
Alabama, in 1819; Maine, in 1820; and Missouri, 
in 1821. 

The discussion in Congress over the admission 
of Missouri showed the existence of a new dis- 
turbing element in our national politics. It was 
the question of the further extension of slavery ; 
not so much in regard to its moral aspects as to 
its bearing on the question of the balance of polit- 
ical power. For a brief period two parties, one 
in favor of and the other against admitdng any 
more Slave States, filled Congress and the country 
with angry discussion. This was quieted for the 
time by what is known as " the Missouri Compro- 
mise," which restricted slavery to the territory 
lying south of the southern boundary of Missouri. 
The somewhat celebrated " Monroe Doctrine " 
is regarded as one of the most important results 
of Monroe's Administration. It was enunciated 
in his messa^^e to Concrress on the 2d of Decem- 
ber, 1823, and arose out of his sympathy for the 
new Republics then recently set up in South 
America. In substance it was, that the United 
States would never cntanorle themselves with the 



^53 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS, 

quarrels of Europe, nor al^w Europe to interfere 
with the affairs of this conti..ent. 

In 1830, the venerable ex-President went to 
reside with his son-in-law, Samuel L. Gouverneur, 
in New York, where he died in the seventy-fourth 
year of his age, on the 4th of July, 1831, being the 
third of our five Revolutionary Presidents to pass 
from earth on the anniversary of that memorable 
day, which had contributed so largely to the 
shaping of their destinies. 



JOHN OUINCY ADAMS, 

THE son of John Adams, our second Presi- 
dent, and himself the sixth chief executive 
of the Union, was born at Quincy, Mass., 
on the nth of July, 1767. He enjoyed rare 
opportunities for culture from his mother, who 
was a lady of very superior talents. While yet a 
mere boy, he twice accompanied his father to 
Europe, and at the a^e of fourteen was appointed 
private secretary to Francis Dana, then Minister 
to Russia. Graduating from Harvard in 1788, he 
studied law under Theophilus Parsons, and com- 
menced practice in Boston in 179 1. In 1794. he 
was appointed by Washington Minister to Holland. 
In July, 1797, he married Louisa, daughter of 
Joshua Johnson, then American Consul at London. 
In 1797, his father, who was then President, gave 
him the mission to Berlin, being urged to this 




GOVERNOR HORACE BOIES, 
Iowa's Candidate for Nomination in 1892. 



JOHN Q UINC Y ADAMS. .^ 

tecognltlon of his own son by Washington, who 
pronounced the younger Adams " the most valu- 
able public character we have abroad." 

On the accession of Jefferson to the Presidency, 
Mr. Adams was recalled from Berlin. Soon after 
his return, however, he was elected to the United 
States Senate, where he speedily won a command- 
ing position, ardently supporting Jefferson's mea- 
sures of resistance ao^alnst the arroQ^ance and 
insolence of England in her encroachments upon 
our commerce and in her impressment of our 
seamen. The Lei^islature of Massachusetts havinof 
censured him for his course, Adams resigned his 
seat; but, in 1809, was selected, by Madison to 
represent the United States at St. Petersburg. 
On the 24th of December, 1814, he, in conjunction 
with Clay and Gallatin, concluded the Treaty of 
Ghent, which closed " the Second War of Inde- 
pendence." In 181 7, he was recalled to act as 
Secretary of State for President Monroe. 

At the election for Monroe's successor, In 1824, 
party spirit ran high. The contest was an excit- 
ing one. Of the two hundred and sixty electoral 
votes, Andrew Jackson received 99, John Quincy 
Adams 84, Wm. H. Crawford 41, and Henry 
Clay 37. As there was no choice by the people, 
tlie election devolved upon the House of Repre- 
sentatives. Here Mr. Clay gave the vote of 
Kentucky to Adam-^, and otherwise promoted his 
cause, so that he received the votes of thirteen 
States, and was elected. 



AyO OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

The Administration of the younger Adams has 
been characterized as the purest and most 
economical on record. Yet, during- his entire 
term, he was the object of the most rancorous parti- 
san assaults. He had appointed Clay as his Sec- 
retary of State, whereat the Jackson men accused 
them both of " bargaining and corruption," and in 
all ways disparaged and condemned their work. 
In his official intercourse, it was said Adams often 
displayed " a formal coldness which froze like an 
iceberg." This coldness of manner, along with 
his advocacy of a high protective tariff and the 
policy of internal improvements, and his known 
hostility to slavery, made him many bitter enemies, 
especially in the South, and at the close of his 
first term he was probably the most unpopular 
man who could have aspired to the Presidency ; 
And yet, in his contest with Jackson at that time, 
Adams received eighty-three electoral votes, Jack- 
son being chosen by one hundred and seventy- 
eicrht. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, General Jackson 
having been elected President, Mr. Adams re- 
tired to private life; but, in 1831, was elected to 
the House of Representatives of the United 
States, where he took his seat, pledged, as he said, 
to no party. He at once became the leader of 
that little band, so insignificant In numbers, but 
powerful In determination and courage, who, re- 
garding slavery as both a moral and a political 



JOHN Q UINC V ADAMS. a n j 

evil, began, in Congress, to advocate its abolition. 
By his continual presentation of petitions against 
slavery, he gradually yet irresistibly led the pub 
lie mind to familiarize itself with the idea of its. 
final extinction. To the fiery onslaughts of the 
Southern members he opposed a cold and unim- 
passioned front. 

In 1842, to show his consistency in upholding 
the right of petition, he presented to Congress 
the petition of some thirty or forty over-zealous 
anti-slavery persons for the dissolution of the 
Union. This brought upon the venerable ex- 
President a perfect tempest of indignation. Reso- 
lutions to expel him were introduced ; but, after 
eleven days of stormy discussion, they were laid 
on the table. The intrepidity displayed by " the 
old man eloquent " was beginning to tell. Even 
those who most bitterly opposed his doctrines 
were learning to respect him. When, after a 
season of illness, he re-appeared in Congress, in 
February, 1847, every member instinctively rose 
in his seat to do the old man honor. On the 
2 1st of February, 1848, Mr. Adams was struck 
down by paralysis on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. He was taken, senseless, into 
an ante-room. Recovering his consciousness, he 
looked calmly around, and said: "This is the last 
of earth: I am content." These were his last 
words. In an apartment beneath the dome of the 
Capitol he expired, on February 23d, in the 
eighty-first year of his age. 



472 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

ANDREW JACKSON, 

SEVENTH President of the United States, 
was born in Mecklenburg County, North 
Carohna, on the 15th of March, 1767. His 
father, who was a poor Irishman, dying a few days 
before Andrew's birth, he and his two older 
brothers were left to the care of his mother. 
The boys had little schooling. And/ew was a 
rude, turbulent lad, at once vindictive and gener- 
ous, full of mischief, but resolute, of indomitable 
courage, and wonderfully self-reliant. When bui 
thirteen, fired by the death of his oldest brother, 
who had perished from heat and exhaustion at 
the Battle of Stono, he shouldered a musket and 
took part in the War of Independence. He and 
his remaining brother were made prisoners by 
the British, but were soon released through the 
exertions of their mother. It was during this 
captivity that Andrew received a wound from a 
British officer for refusino^ to black the boots of 
that dignitary. Both the released boys were soon 
sent home with the small-pox, of which the elder 
died, and Andrew barely escaped death. The 
mother went next, dying of ship fever, contracted 
while attending upon the patriot prisoners at 
Charleston. Thus left an orphan, Andrew worked 
a short time in a saddler's shop. He then tried 
school-teaching, and finally studied law, being 



ANDREW JACKSON. 473 

admitted to practice when but twenty years old. 
At that time he was very commanding in appear- 
ance, being six feet one inch in height, and dis» 
tinguished for courage and activity. 

In 1 79 1, Jackson married, at Nashville, where 
he had built up a lucrative practice, Mrs. Rachel 
Robards, the divorced wife, as both he and the 
lady herself supposed, of Mr. Lewis Robards. 
They had lived together two years, when it was 
discovered that Mrs. Robards was not fully di- 
vorced at the time of her second marriage. As, 
however, the divorce had subsequently been per- 
fected, the marriage ceremony was performed 
anew, in 1 794. In after years, this unfortunate 
mistake was made the basis of many calumni- 
ous charges against Jackson by his partisan 
enemies. 

Tennessee having been made a State in 1 796, 
Jackson was successively its Representative and 
Senator in Congress, and a Judge of its Supreme 
Court. Resigning his judgeship in 1804, he en- 
tered into and carried on for a number of years 
an extensive trading business. He was also 
elected at this period major-general in the militia. 
In 1806 he was severely wounded in a duel with 
Charles Dickenson, who had been making dis- 
paraging remarks against his wife, something 
which Jackson could neither forget nor forgive. 
Dickenson fell mortally wounded, and, after suf- 
fering intense agony for a short time, died. This 



474 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



sad affair, in which Jackson displayed much vin 
dictiveness, made him for awhile very unpopular. 

When, in 1812, war was declared against Eng- 
land, Jackson prompdy offered his services to the 
General Government. During the summer of 
181 3 he had another of those personal rencontres 
into which his fiery temper was continually lead- 
ing him. In an affray with Thomas H. Benton, he 
received a pistol-shot in the shoulder at the hands 
of Benton's brother, from the effects of which he 
never fully recovered. He was still suffering 
from the immediate consequences of this wound, 
when tidines were received at Nashville of the 
massacre at Fort Mimms by Creek Indians. Jack- 
son, regardless of his wounds, at once took the 
field. An energetic campaign, in which, winning 
victory after victory, he established his reputation 
as one of our best military chieftains, ended the 
Creek War, and broke forever the power of the 
Indian races in North America. 

In May, 18 14, Jackson was made a major-gen- 
eral in the regular army and became the acknowl- 
edged military leader in the Southwest. New 
Orleans being threatened by the British, he hast- 
ened to defend it. There, on the 8th of January, 
181 5, with less than five thousand men, mostly 
untrained militia, he repulsed the attack of a well- 
appointed army of nearly fourteen thousand vet- 
eran troops, under some of the most distinguished 
officers in tl^e English service. Generals Paken- 



ANDREW JACKSON. 475 

ham and Gibbs, of the British forces, were killed, 
together with seven hundred of their men, fourteen 
hundred more being wounded and five hundred 
taken prisoners. Jackson lost but eight killed and 
fourteen wounded. Ten days later the enemy 
withdrew, leaving many of their guns behind 
them. The full glory of Jackson's triumph at 
New Orleans partisan rancor subsequently sought 
to dim. But high military authorities, even in 
England, have sustained the popular judgment 
that it was a brilliant victory, achieved by rare 
foresight, wise conduct, and undoubted wariike 
genius. 

Jackson's success at New Orieans gave him 
immense popularity. He received a vote of 
thanks from Congress, was made Commander-in- 
chief of the southern division of the army, and 
even began to be talked of as a candidate for the 
Presidency. President Monroe offered him the 
post of Secretary of War. In the Seminole War, 
which commenced about the close of 1817, he 
took the field in person. He was successful, 
with but little fighting. His execution of Arbuth- 
not and Armbruster, two British subjects, found 
guilty by a military court of inciting the Indians 
to hostilities, caused an angry discussion between 
England and the United States which at one time 
threatened to end in open rupture. In Congress, 
also, it excited a warm debate ; but resolutions 
censurino- the General were rejected by the 



.^5 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

House, and came to no conclusion in the 
Senate. 

When Spain ceded Florida to the Union, Jack- 
son was appointed Governor of the Territory. 
In 1823 he was elected to the United States Sen- 
ate by the Legislature of Tennessee, which, at the 
same time, nominated him for the Presidency. 
This nomination, thou^rh ridiculed on account of 
Jackson's alleged unfitness for the office, never- 
theless resulted, at the ensuing election, in his 
receiving more votes than any other single can- 
didate ; but the choice devolving on the Housg 
of Representatives, Adams, as we have seen, was 
elected. For Henry Clay's part in this success of 
Adams, Jackson became his bitter enemy, stigma- 
tizing him as the "Judas of the West." In the 
next campaign, however, Jackson achieved a de- 
cided triumph, having a majority of eighty-three 
out of two hundred and sixty-one electoral votes. 

In retaliation for the bitter personal attacks he 
had received during the campaign, Jackson com- 
menced a wholesale political proscription of his 
partisan opponents. Adopting the war-cry of his 
Secretary of State, Marcy, of New York, that 
"to the victors belong the spoils," he initiated that 
system, ever since so prevalent, of turning out of 
office every man not on the side of the winning 
party. His veto of the bill re-chartering the 
United States Bank, which for a time caused quite 
a panic in commercial circles, and his determined 



ANDREW JACKSON. .yy 

Stand against the " nullifiers," under the lead of 
Calhoun, who, with threats of armed resistance, 
demanded a reduction of the tariff, excited a warm 
opposition to the President, But, in spite of 
every effort, the election of 1828 brought him 
again into the Presidential chair with an over- 
whelming majority, he receiving two hundred 
and nineteen electoral votes out of two hundred 
and eighty-eight, which was then the total number. 

On the loth of December, 1832, Jackson was 
compelled by the conduct of South Carolina to 
issue a proclamation threatening to use the army 
in case of resistance to the execution of the tariff 
laws; but, fortunately, Mr. Clay succeeded in 
bringing about a compromise, by which, the tariff 
being modified, the South Carolinians were ena- 
bled to recede from their position with becoming 
dignity. 

Jackson's removal of the deposits, in 1833, 
caused an intense excitement throughout the 
country. In Congress, his course was censured 
by the Senate, but approved by the House. A 
panic existed for some time in business circles ; 
but before the close of his second term the great 
mass of the people were content with the Presi- 
dent's course. 

Jackson's foreign diplomacy had been very 
successful. Useful commercial treaties werd 
made with several countries and renewed with 
others. Indemnities for spoliations on American 



^yS OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

commerce were obtained from various foreign 
countries. The national debt was extinguished, 
the Cherokees were removed from Georcria and 
the Creeks from Florida, while the original num- 
ber of the States was doubled by the admission 
into the Union of Arkansas, in 1836, and of 
Michigan, in 1837. On the other hand, the slavery 
dispute was renewed with much bitterness, and 
the Seminole War re-commenced. 

On the 4th of March, 1837, Jackson retired 
from public life. He returned to " the Hermit- 
age," his country seat, where he remained until 
his death, on the 8th of June, 1845. The imme- 
diate cause of his death was dropsy; but through 
the greater part of his life he had been a sufferer 
from disease in one form or another. 

General Jackson has been described as a man 
of unbounded hospitality. He loved fine horses 
and had a passion for racing them. " His temper," 
writes Colonel Benton, " was placable as well as 
irascible, and his reconciliations were cordial and 
sincere." He abhorred debt, public as well as 
private. His love of country was a master pas- 
sion. " He was a thoroughly honest man, as 
straightforward in action as his thoughts were 
unsophisticated." Of book-knowledge he pos- 
sessed little — scarcely anything ; but his vigorous 
native intelligence and intuitive judgment carried 
him safely through where the most profound 
learninor without them would have failed. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 479 



MARTIN VAN BUREN, 

THE eighth chief executive of the Union, 
was the son of a thrifty farmer in the old 
town of Kinderhook, in Columbia County, 
New York, where he was bom on the 5th of 
December, 1782. Early evidencing unusual 
mental vigor, a good academic education was 
criven to him. Finishing this at the age of four- 
Teen, he then began the study of the law. After 
seven years of study he was admitted to the bar, 
and commenced to practice in his native village. 
His o-rowin<^ reputation and practice warranting 
him tn seeking a wider field, in 1809 he removed 
to Hudson. In 181 2, he was elected to the Sen- 
ate of New York; and, in 181 5, havmg been 
appointed Attorney-General of the State, he re- 
moved to Albany. In 1 821, he was elected to 
the United States Senate, and was also a member 
of the Convention to revise the Constitution of 
New York. He speedily rose to distinction 111 
the National Senate, and, in 1827, was re-elected 
to that body, but the year following resigned 
his seat to take the position of Governor of New 

York. , . 

In 1S29, General Jackson, whose election to 
the Presidency was no doubt due in a great mea- 
sure to the shrewd political management of Van 
Buren, offered him the post of Secretary of State. 



.gQ OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

In 1 83 1, circumstances making it necessary for 
Jackson to re-organize his Cabinet, Van Buren 
resigned his Secretaryship, but was immediately 
named Minister to England. The Senate, how- 
ever, greatly to the President's dissatisfaction, 
refused to confirm the nomination, though Van 
Buren had already reached London. This rejec- 
tion of his friend aroused all of Jackson's deter- 
mined spirit. He not only succeeded in placing 
Mr. Van Buren in the Vice-Presidency during his 
own second term, but he also began to work zeal- 
ously to obtain Van Buren's nomination as his 
successor in the Presidency. He triumphed, and 
his friend received the Democratic nomination, 
and was elected by a handsome majority, taking 
his seat in the Presidential chair on the 4th of 
March, 1837. 

Shortly after Van Buren's inauguration, a finan- 
cial panic, ascribed to General Jackson's desire to 
make specie the currency of the country, and his 
consequent war upon the banks, brought the 
country to the very verge of ruin. Failures 
came fast and frequent, and all the great indus- 
tries of the nation were paralyzed. At the same 
time, the war in Florida against the Seminoles lin- 
gered along, without the slightest apparent pros- 
pect of coming to an end, entailing enormous 
expenses on the Government; while the anti- 
slavery agitation, growing steadily stronger, ex- 
cited mobs and violence, and threatened to shake 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. .gj 

the Republic from its foundations. Rightly or 
wrongly, these troubles were attributed to Presi- 
dent Van Buren and his party, as resulting from 
the policy they had pursued. His popularity 
waned rapidly, and at the Presidential election in 
1840, in which he was a candidate for re-election, 
he was overwhelmingly defeated. 

Retiring to Lindenwald, his fine estate near 
Kinderhook, Van Buren, in 1844, endeavored to 
procure a re-nomination for the Presidency, but 
was unsuccessful, though a majority of delegates 
was pledged to support him. His defeat was due 
to the opposition of Southern members, based on 
the fact that he had written a letter adverse to 
the annexation of Texas. 

In 1848, he was brought forward by the Free-soil 
Democrats. Though not elected, the party which 
had nominated him showed unexpected strength, 
nearly three hundred thousand votes having been 
cast in his favor. 

Mr. Van Buren now retired from public life. 
Fourteen years later, at the age of eighty, on the 
24th of July, 1862, he died at Lindenwald. He 
was a man of more than ordinary ability, of culti- 
vated manners, and genial disposition. Though 
shrewd, he was not a dishonest politician. His 
private character was beyond reproach. He de- 
serves a conspicuous position among those who 
have been worthy successors of our immortal 

first President. 
31 



482 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON, ninth 
President of the United States, was 
born at Berkeley, on the banks of the 
James River, in Virginia, on the 9th of February, 
1773. His father, Benjamin Harrison, was one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
and for several years Governor of Virginia. Hav- 
ing received a good education at Hampden-Sid 
ney College, young Harrison began the study of 
medicine; but the barbarities of the savages on 
our northwestern frontier having excited his 
sympathies in behalf of the suffering settlers, he 
determined to enter the army, as being a place 
where he could do good service. Accordingly, in 
1 79 1, shortly after St. Clair's defeat, he obtained 
from President Washino^ton a commission as en- 
sign in the artillery. Though winter was coming 
on, he at once set out on foot across the wilder- 
ness to Pittsburg, whence he descended the Ohio 
to Fort Washington, now Cincinnati. He soon 
became a favorite with his superiors, and by his 
bravery in battle speedily attained the rank of 
captain. In 1797, when but twenty-four years old, 
having recently married, he resigned his commis- 
sion, to accept the secretaryship of the Northwest 
Territory. In 1801, he was appointed Governor 
of " the Indiana Territory," comprising the present 



WILLIAJM HENR V HARRISON. .3 <, 

States of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. This 
office he filled satisfactorily to both whites and 
Indians for twelve years, during which time he 
negotiated many excellent treaties. 

During the summer of 1811, the Indians of the 
Northwest, under the lead of the celebrated Te- 
cumseh, and instigated, it is thought, by the emis- 
saries of England, with whom we were upon the 
point of going to war, broke out into open hos- 
tility. Collecting a considerable force of militia 
and volunteers, Harrison took the field. On the 
7th of November, he encountered and defeated 
Tecumseh on the banks of the Tippecanoe River. 
This was one of the most hotly contested battles 
ever foueht between the Indians and the whites. 
Its victorious results added greatly to Harrison's 
already high reputation; and in 181 2, after Hull's 
ignominious surrender of Detroit, he was ap- 
pointed commander-in-chief of the Army of the 
Northwest. Invested with almost absolute power, 
he displayed an energy, sagacity, and courage 
which justified the confidence reposed in him. 
By almost superhuman exertions, he managed to 
collect an army. Perry, on the loth of Septem- 
ber, 181 3, having defeated the British fieet on 
Lake Erie, Harrison, who had been waiting the 
course of events, now hastened to take the field. 
Crossing into Canada, he repossessed Detroit, 
and, pushing on in pursuit of the flying enemy, 
finally brought them to a stand on the banks of 



-^84 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

the Thames. Here, after a brief but sanguinary 
contest, the British and their savage allies were 
defeated with heavy loss. Tecumseh, the leading 
spirit of the Indians, was left dead on the field. 
Harrison's triumph was complete and decisive. 

Shortly after this victory, which gave peace to 
the Northwest, Harrison, having had some diffi- 
culty with the Secretary of War, threw up his 
commission, but was appointed by the President 
to negotiate a treaty with the Indians. In 1816, 
he was elected to the lower house of Congress, 
where he gained considerable reputation, both as 
an active working member and as an eloquent 
and effective speaker. In 1824, he was sent from 
Ohio to the United States Senate. In 1828, he 
was appointed by John Ouincy Adams Minister 
to the Republic of Colombia ; but President Jack- 
son, who bore him no good-will, the following 
year recalled him. On his return home, he retired 
to his farm at North Bend, on the Ohio River, 
and was presently elected clerk of the Hamilton 
County Court. In 1836, he was one of the four 
candidates who ran ao-ainst Van Buren for the 
Presidency. Jackson's favorite, as we have seen, 
came out ahead in this race. But, though Harri- 
son was not elected, there was such evidence of 
his popularity as to warrant the Whigs in uniting 
upon him as their candidate in the campaign of 1 840. 

That campaign was a memorable one. It was, 
perhaps, the most exciting, yet, at the same time, 




CAT,VTN S. BRTCE. 



ki-'ILLIAM HENK Y HARRISON. ^g^ 

one of the freest from extreme partisan bitterness, 
of any Presidential canvass ever known. As 
" the hero of Tippecanoe " and " the log-cabin 
candidate," which latter phrase was first used in 
contempt, Harrison swept everything before him, 
securing two hundred and thirty-four out of the 
two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes cast, 
and this, too, in spite of all the efforts of Jackson 
to prevent his success. His journey to be inau- 
gurated was one continued ovation. His inaugu- 
ration, which took place on the 4th of March, 
1 841, was witnessed by a vast concourse of peo- 
ple from all parts of the Union. His address, by 
the moderation of its tone, and by its plain, prac- 
tical, common-sense views, confirmed his immense 
popularity. Selecting for his Cabinet some of 
the most eminent public men of the country, he 
began his Administration with the brightest pros- 
pects. But, in the midst of these pleasing antici- 
pations, he was suddenly attacked by a fit of 
sickness, which, in a few days terminated in his 
death, on the 4th of April, just one month after 
his inauguration. His last words, spoken in the 
delirium of fever, were characteristic of the con- 
scientiousness with which he had accepted the 
responsibilities of the Presidential office. " Sir," 
he said, as if, conscious of his approaching end, 
he were addressing his successor, " I wish you to 
understand the principles of the Government. I 
wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." 



^36 ^^'^ FORMER PRESIDENTS^ 

The sudden and unexpected death of Presideni 
Harrison threw the whole country into mourning. 
Much had been hoped from him, as one who had 
the best interests of every portion of the Union 
at heart. There was a noble simplicity in his 
character which had won all hearts. Without 
beine brilliant, his was an intellect of solid, sub- 
stantlal worth. He was a frank, guileless-hearted 
man, of incorruptible integrity, and stands forth 
among our Presidents, brief as was his official 
term, as a noble representative of the plain, prac- 
tical, honest yeomanry of the land. '' Not one 
single spot," says Abbott, " can be found to sully 
the brightness of his fame ; and through all the 
ages, Americans will pronounce with love and 
reverence the name of William Henry Harrison." 



O 



JOHN TYLER. 

N the death of General Harrison, April 
4th, 1 841, for the first time in our history 
the administration of flie Government de- 
volved on the Vice-President. The gentleman 
thus elevated to the Presidency was John Tyler, 
the son of a wealthy landholder of Virginia, at 
one time Governor of that State. Born In 
Charles City County, March 29th, 1790, young 
Tyler, at the age of seventeen, graduated from 
William and Mary College with the reputation of 



JOHN TYLER. ^g^ 

having delivered the best commencement oration 
ever heard by the faculty. When only nineteen 
he began to practice law, rising to eminence in 
his profession with surprising rapidity. Two 
years later he was elected to the Legislature. 
After serving five successive terms in the Legis- 
lature, he was, in 1816, in 181 7, and again in 
1819, elected to Congress. Compelled by ill- 
health to resign his seat in Congress, he was, in 
1825, chosen Governor of the State. In 1827, he 
was elected to the United States Senate over the 
celebrated John Rardolph, of Roanoke. 

During the whole of his Congressional career, 
Mr. Tyler was an earnest advocate of the strict 
construction doctrines of the then Democratic 
party, opposing the United States Bank, a protec- 
tive tariff, internal improvements by the General 
Government, and, in short, all measures tending 
to the centralization of power. He was also an 
ardent opponent of any restrictions upon slavery, 
and avowed his sympathies with the nullification 
theories of Calhoun. On this last subject he 
finally came into the opposition against Jackson. 
In the session of 1833-34, he voted for Clay's 
resolutions censuring Jackson for his removal of 
the deposits. In 1836, when the Virginia Legis- 
lature instructed its representatives in Congress 
to vote for the rescinding of these resolutions, 
Mr. Tyler, who had early committed himself to 
the right* of instruction, could not conscientiously 



.gg OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

comply with the request of the Legislature, noi 
hold his seat in disregard of its mandate, and ac- 
cordingly resigned. In 1838, he was again sent 
to the Legislature, and, in 1839, we find him a 
delegate to the Whig National Convention, 
which, at Harrisburg, nominated Harrison and 
himself as candidates for President and Vice- 
President. Of the campaign which followed, and 
of the subsequent death of Harrison, we have 
already given an account. 

On receivincT tidines of the President's death, 
Mr. Tyler hastened to Washington, and, on the 
6th of April, was inaugurated, and he retained 
all the Cabinet officers Harrison had appointed. 
Three days later, he issued an inaugural address, 
which was well received, both by the public and 
by his partisan friends, who, knowing his antece- 
dents, had been somewhat dubious as to what 
policy he would pursue. But this was only the 
calm before the storm. Tyler's veto of the bill 
for a " fiscal bank of the United States," led to a 
complete rupture with the party by which he had 
been elected, who charged him with treachery to 
his principles. Attempting conciliation, he only 
displeased the Democrats, who had at first shown 
a disposition to stand by him, without regaining 
the favor of the Whigs. In consequence of this 
course of action, Tyler's Cabinet all resigned, 
and in their places several Democrats were ap- 
pointed. 



JOHN TYLER. 48 g 

During his Administration several very impor- 
tant measures were adopted. Among them the 
act establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy, 
passed in 1841, the tariff law of 1842, and the 
scheme for the annexation of Texas, which, by the 
vigorous efforts of the President, was brought to 
a successful issue by the passage of joint resolu- 
tions in Congress, on the ist of March, 1845, j^^t 
three days before the close of his term. The 
formal act of annexation, however, was not passed 
until a later period. One new State — Florida — 
was also admitted into the Union under Mr. 
Tyler's Administration, in 1845. 

After his retirement from the Presidency, on 
the 4th of March, 1845, ^I^- Tyler remained in 
private life at his beautiful home of Sherwood 
Forest, in Charles City County, till, in 1861, he 
appeared as a member of the Peace Convention, 
composed of delegates from the " Border States," 
which met at Washinorton to endeavor to arrancre 
terms of compromise between the seceded States 
and the General Government. Of this Conven- 
tion, which accomplished nothing, he was presi- 
dent. 

Subsequently, Mr. Tyler renounced his alle- 
giance to the United States, and was chosen a 
member of the Confederate Congress. While 
acting in this capacity he was taken sick at Rich- 
mond, where he died after a brief illness, on the 
17th of January, 1862. 



490 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS, 



JAMES KNOX POLK. 

MECKLENBURG County, North Caro- 
Una, has the distinction of being the 
birthplace of two Presidents of the 
United States — Andrew Jackson and James Knox 
Polk — the latter of whom was born there on the 
2d of November, 1795. Like his friend and 
neighbor. General Jackson, Mr. Polk was of 
Scotch'Irish descent. It was his great-uncle, Col- 
onel Thomas Polk, who, on the 19th of May, 1 775, 
read from the steps of the court-house, at Char- 
lotte, that famous "Mecklenburg Declaration of 
Independence," to which reference has been made 
in our sketch of Jefferson. James at a very early 
age manifested decided literary tastes. After a 
vain attempt to induce him to become a store- 
keeper, his father finally consented to his enter- 
ing the University of North Carolina, at Chapel 
Hill, from which, in his twenty-third year, he grad- 
uated with the highest honors. Studying law at 
Nashville, Tennessee, where he renewed a former 
acquaintance with General Jackson, he was ad- 
mitted to the bar, and commenced practice at 
Columbia. 

In 1823, he was elected to the Legislature of 
Tennessee, and during the following year was 
married to Miss Sarah Childress, a beautiful and 
accomplished young lady, of refined manners and 



JAMES KNOX FOLK. .qj 

rare social gifts. In the fall of 1825, he was 
elected to Congress, where he remained the next 
fourteen years, during five sessions occupying the 
responsible and honorable position of Speaker of 
die House, the duties of which he performed with 
a dignity and dispassionateness which won for him 
the warmest encomiums from all parties. In 1839, 
he was chosen Governor of Tennessee. Ao^ain a 
candidate in 1841, and also in 1843, he was both 
times defeated, — a result due to one of those 
periodical revolutions in politics which seem in- 
separable from republican forms of government, 
rather than to Mr. Polk's lack of personal popu- 
larity. 

As the avowed friend of the annexation of 
Texas, Mr. Polk, in 1844, was nominated by the 
Democrats for the Presidency. Though he had 
for his opponent no less a person than the great 
and popular orator and statesman, Henr}^ Clay, he 
received one hundred and seventy out of two hun- 
dred and seventy-five votes in the electoral col- 
lege. He was Inaugurated on the 4th of March, 
1845. Three clays previously, his predecessor, 
John Tyler, had signed the joint resolutions of 
Congress favoring the annexation of Texas to the 
United States. Consequently, at the very begin- 
ning of his Administration, Mr. Polk found the. 
country involved in disputes with Mexico, which, 
on the formal annexation of Texas, in December, 
1845, threatened to result in hostilities between 



Ag2 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

the two countries. General Zachary Taylor was 
sent with a small army to occupy the territory 
stretching from the Neuces to the Rio Grande, 
which latter stream Texas claimed as her western 
boundary. Mexico, on the other hand, declaring 
that Texas had never extended further west than 
the Neuces, dispatched a force to watch Taylor. 
A slight collision, in April, 1846, was followed, a 
few days later, by the battles of Palo Alto and 
Resaca de la Palma, in which General Taylor was 
victorious. When the tidings of these battles 
reached Washington, the President, on May nth, 
sent a special message to Congress, declaring 
" that war existed by the act of Mexico," and ask- 
ing for men and money to carry it on. Congress 
promptly voted ten million dollars, and authorized 
the President to call out fifty thousand volun- 
teers. Hostilities were prosecuted vigorously. An 
American army, under General Scott, finally fought 
its way to the capture of the City of Mexico. On 
the 2d of February, 1848, the treaty of Guada- 
loupe Hidalgo was signed, and ratified by the 
Senate on the loth of March following, by which 
New Mexico and Upper California, comprising a 
territory of more than half a million square miles, 
were added to the United States. In return, the 
United States agreed to pay Mexico fifteen mil- 
lion of dollars, and to assume the debts due by 
Mexico to citizens of the United States, amount- 
ine to three and a half millions more. 



JAMES KNOX POLK. ^n^ 

Besides Texas, two other States were admitted 
into the Union during Mr. Polk's Administration. 
These were Iowa and Wisconsin — the former in 
1846 and the latter in 1848. 

When the war with Mexico first broke out, 
negotiations were pending between England and 
the United States, in regard to Oregon^ which we 
had long deemed a portion of our own territory. 
" Fifty-four forty [54^" 40'] or fight !" had been one 
of the Democratic battle-cries during the canvass 
which resulted in Mr. Polk's election, and he, in 
his inaugural, had maintained that our title to 
Oregon was unquestionable. England, however, 
still urged her claim to the whole country. After 
considerable negotiation, the President finally, as 
an amicable compromise, offered the boundary of 
the parallel of 49°, giving Vancouver's Island to 
Great Britain. His offer was accepted, and war 
perhaps avoided. Another important measure of 
Mr. Polk's Administration was a modification of 
the tariff, in 1846, by which its former protective 
features were much lessened. 

On his nomination, in 1 844, Mr. Polk had pledged 
himself to the one-term principle. Consequently 
he was not a candidate for re-election in 1848. 
Having witnessed the inauguration of his suc- 
cessor, General Taylor, he returned to his home 
near Nashville. " He was then," says Abbott, 
but fifty-four years of age. He had ever been 
strictly temperate in his habits, and his health was 



.gA OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

good. With an ample fortune, a choice library, a 
cultivated mind, and domestic ties of the dearest 
nature, it seemed as though long years of tran- 
quillity and happiness were before him." But it 
was not so to be. On his way home he felt pre- 
monitory symptoms of cholera, and when he 
reached there his system was much weakened. 
Though at first able to work a little in superin- 
tending the fitting up of his grounds, he was soon 
compelled to take to his bed. He never rose 
from it again. Though finally the disease was 
checked, he had not strength left to bring on the 
necessary reaction." " He died without a struggle, 
simply ceasing to breathe, as when deep and quiet 
sleep falls upon a weary man," on the 15th of 
June, 1849, a little more than three months after 
his retirement from the Presidency. His remains 
lie in the spacious lawn of his former home in 
the city of Nashville. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR, 

TWELFTH President of the United States, 
was born in Orange County, Virginia, No- 
vember 24th, 1784. His father, Colonel Rich- 
ard Taylor, was a noted Revolutionary officer. 
His mother, as is usually the case with the moth- 
ers of men who have risen to distinction, was a 
woman of great force of character. Whilst he 



ZA CHAR V TA YL OR. ^O r 

was yet an Infant, his parents removed to the then 
wilderness near the present city of Louisville. 
Here In the depths of the forest swarming with 
hostile savages, young Taylor found few educa- 
tional advantaofes, thoueh the training he received 
was no doubt one to develop those military qual- 
ities he subsequently displayed. He grew up a 
rugged, brave, self-reliant youth, with more of a 
certain frank, almost blunt, off-handedness, than 
exterior polish. 

In 1808, he received a lieutenant's commission 
in the army, and In 18 10 married Margaret Smith. 
His military career fairly opened in 181 2, when 
he was sent to the defense of our western border. 
While in command of Fort Harrison, on the 
Wabash, with a garrison of but fifty-two men, he 
was suddenly attacked by a band of Indians, who 
succeeded In setting fire to the fort. But the 
young captain with his handful of men extinguished 
the flames, and forced the enemy to retreat. For 
this gallant exploit, he received a brevet major's 
commission. 

Nothinor remarkable occurred in his life for 
many years subsequent, until, in 1837, ^^^ ^^^ 
him a colonel in Florida, operating against the 
Seminoles. On Christmas Day of that year he 
won the battle of Okechobee, one of the most 
fiercely contested actions in the annals of Indian 
warfare. The Seminoles never rallied again In 
formidable numbers. For his si^-nal services in 



49^ ^^^ i^(9^iT/^^ PRESIDENTS. 

this affair Taylor was made a brigadier, and ap 
pointed Commander-in-chief. This post he retained 
till 1840, when, having purchased an estate near 
Baton Rouge, in Louisiana, he was, at his own 
request, placed in the command of the Department 
of the Southwest. 

While still holding this command in the spring 
of 1845, Congress having passed joint resolutions 
for the annexation of Texas, General Taylor was 
sent with four thousand troops to Corpus Christi, 
on the west bank of the Neuces, and in territory 
claimed by bodi Mexico and Texas. It has been 
said that it was the*secret object of our Govern- 
ment to provoke a conflict with Mexico, yet so 
that the responsibility of it should appear to rest 
upon General Taylor. If such was the object, 
the scheme signally failed. Taylor made no move 
without explicit orders. It was by the President's 
positive command that, on the 8th of March, 1846, 
the wary old General began his march into the 
disputed district lying between the Neuces and 
the Rio Grande. Reachinof the latter stream on 
the 28th, he built Fort Brown immediately oppo- 
site the Mexican town of Matamoras. On the 
1 2th of March the Mexican commander peremp- 
torily ordered Taylor to retire beyond the Neuces. 
A refusal to do this, he said, would be regarded 
as a declaration of war. General Taylor replied 
that his instructions would not permit him to 
retire, and that if the Mexicans saw fit to com- 



ZACHAR Y TA YLOR. ^O jr 

mence hostilities he would not shrink from the 
conflict. Six thousand Mexicans at once crossed 
die Rio Grande. With less than three thousand 
troops, Taylor, on the 8th of April, attacked and 
defeated them at Palo Alto. Rallying in a strong 
position at Resaca de la Palma, the Mexicans 
were again attacked, and after a stubborn fight 
driven back across the river with great loss. These 
victories were hailed with the wildest enthusiasm 
throughout the country, and Taylor was promoted 
to a major-generalship. 

Moving rapidly forward to Monterey, he took 
that strongly fordfied city, aTter a desperate fight 
of three days. Making it his headquarters, the 
victor was preparing for an important move, when 
General Scott, who was about to lead an expedi- 
tion against Vera Cruz, took away the best part 
of his troops, leaving him with only five thousand 
men, mostly raw volunteers. Hearing of this, 
Santa Anna, undoubtedly the ablest of the Mexican 
generals, with twenty thousand picked men, 
pushed rapidly down the Rio Grande with the 
design of overpowering Taylor's litde army. The 
latter, on the 21st of February, 1847, took position 
at Buena Vista and awaited the approach of his 
antagonist, who made his appearance the followmg 
day, and at once began a fierce attack. Never 
was batde fought with more desperate courage 
or greater skill. Three times during the day 
victory seemed with the Mexicans ; but finally the 



32 



/q3 our former presidents, 

stubborn valor of Taylor's little band won tlie 
field. 

The tidings of this brilliant victory excited the 
greatest enthusiasm and gained an imperishable 
renown for the triumphant General. On his re- 
turn home in November, " Old Rough and Ready," 
as his soldiers familiarly called him, was greeted 
everywhere by the warmest demonstrations of 
popular applause. Even before this he had been 
nominated at public meetings for the Presidency ; 
and now the Whigs, casting about for a popular 
candidate, made him their party nominee. Not- 
withstanding the defection from their ranks of 
Henry Wilson and others, who were opposed to 
Taylor as being a slave-holder, he was elected by 
a respectable majority, receiving one hundred and 
sixty-three electoral votes. His inauguration 
took place on Monday, March 5th, i'849. 

Though he selected an excellent Cabinet, the 
old soldier found himself in a trying position. A 
vehement struggle had commenced in Congress 
about the organization of the new Territories, the 
admission of California, and the settlement of the 
boundary between Texas and New Mexico, all 
these questions being connected with the great 
and absorbing one of the extension or non-ex- 
tension of slavery. Taylor, in his message to 
Congress, recommended the admission of Cali- 
fornia as a free State, and that the remaining 
Territories should be allowed to form State Con- 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



499 



stitutlons to suit themselves. Nothing could have 
been more distasteful to the extremists of the 
South, many of whom made open threats of seces- 
sion in case of the adoption of the President's 
suggestions. To adjust the difficulty, Mr. Clay, 
in the Senate, introduced his " compromise mea- 
sures," which were still under debate, when, on 
the 4th of July, 1850, General Taylor was seized 
with bilious fever, of which he died on the 9th at 
the Presidential Mansion. His last words were : 
" I have tried to do my duty." 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 

ON the death of General Taylor, his sue- 
cessor, according to the Constitution, was 
the Vice-President. The gentleman then 
filling that position was Millard Fillmore, an emi- 
nent lawyer of New York. He was compara- 
tively a young man, having been born on the 7th 
of January, 1800, at Summer Hill, Cayuga County, 
New York. His father being poor, his means of 
education had been limited. Apprenticed at the 
age of fourteen to a clothier, he found time during 
his evenings to gratify an insatiable thirst for 
knowledge by reading. His studious habits, fine 
personal appearance, and gentlemanly bearing 
having attracted the attention of a lawyer in tb^ 
neighborhood, that gentleman offered to receive 



500 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

him In his office and to assist him pecuniarily 
until he should be admitted to the bar. This offer 
young Fillmore, then in his nineteenth year, thank* 
fully accepted. With this help, and by teaching 
during the winters, he was enabled to prosecute 
his studies to a successful issue, and in 1823 was 
admitted to the bar, opening an office in the vil- 
lage of Aurora, New York. In 1826, he married 
Miss Abigail Powers, a lady of eminent worth. 

Mr. Fillmore steadily rose in his profession. 
In 1829, he was elected by the Whigs to the State 
Leo^islature, and soon afterward removed to Buf- 
falo. In 1832, he was chosen a member of Con- 
gress, and again in 1837, but declined running a 
third time. He now had a wide reputation, and 
in the year 1847 ^^as elected State Comptroller 
and removed to Albany. The following year, he 
was placed In nomination as Vice-President on the 
ticket with General Taylor. When, on the 5th of 
March, 1849, Taylor took the Presidential chair, 
Mr. Fillmore, by virtue of his office, became 
President of the United States Senate. Here, the 
first presiding officer to take so firm a step, he 
announced his determination, in spite of all prece- 
dents to the contrary, to promptly call Senators to 
order for any offensive words they might utter In 
debate. 

When, after the unexpected death of General 
Taylor, on July 9th, 1850, the office of chief 'ex- 
ecutive devolved upon Mr. Fillmore, he found 




DAVID H. HILL, 

New N'ork's Candidate for Nomination in 1892. 



MILLARD FILLMORE. -^j 

his position no easy or pleasant one. His political 
opponents had a majority in both houses of Con- 
gress. The controversy on the slavery question 
had embittered public feeling, and it required a 
skillful pilot to guide the ship of state safely throuo-h 
the perils by which she was surrounded. The com- 
promise measures of Mr. Clay, to which we have 
already referred in our sketch of General Taylor, 
were finally passed, and received the approving 
signature of Mr. Fillmore. One of these meas- 
ures was the admission of California as a free 
State ; another was the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia. These were thought to be 
concessions to the cause of freedom ; while, on 
the other hand, to satisfy the pro-slavery agitators, 
a bill was passed to give the owners of slaves 
power to recapture fugitive slaves in any part of 
the free States and carry them back without a jury 
trial. But, though enacted in the hope of allay- 
ing sectional animosity, these measures brought 
about only a temporary calm, while they aggra- 
vated the violence of extremists both North and 
South. 

The compromise measures and the fitting out 
of the famous Japan expedition were the principal 
features of Mr. Fillmore's otherwise uneventful 
Administration. On the 4th of March, 1853, he 
retired from office, and immediately afterward 
took a long tour through the Southern States, 
where he met with a cordial reception. 



502 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

In 1855, Mr. Fillmore visited Europe. He wa.' 
everywhere received with those marks of atten- 
tion which, according to European ideas, are due 
to those who have occupied the most distinguished 
positions. On his return home, in 1856, he was 
nominated for the Presidency by the so-called 
"Know-nothing," or "American " party; but being 
very decidedly defeated, he retired to private life. 
He died at Buffalo, New York, on the 8th of 
March, 1874. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE, 

FOURTEENTH President of the United 
States, was born at Hillsborough, N. H., 
November 23d, 1804. His father, General 
Benjamin Pierce, was a soldier of the Revolution, 
and was a man of considerable local repute, hav- 
ing also served as Governor of New Hampshire. 
Graduating from Bowdoin College in 1824, Mr. 
Pierce studied law with the celebrated Levi 
Woodbury, and commenced practice in his native 
town in 1837. ^^ married in 1834. He early 
entered the political field and, in 1833, after hav- 
ing previously served several terms in the State 
Legislature, was elected to Congress. Here he 
showed himself an earnest State-rights Democrat, 
and was regarded as a fair working member. In 
1837, when but thirty-three years of age, he was 



FRANKLIN PIERCE, rQ-? 

elected to the 'National Senate and, during tne 
following year, removed to Concord, where he at 
once took rank among the leading lawyers of the 
State. 

Though Mr. Pierce had declined the office of 
Attorney-General of the United States, offered 
to him by President Polk, he, nevertheless, when 
hostilities were declared against Mexico, accepted 
a brigadier-generalship in' the army, successfully 
marching with twenty-four hundred men from the 
sea-coast to Puebla, where he reinforced General 
Scott. The latter, on the arrival of Pierce, Imme- 
diately prepared to make his long-contemplated 
attack upon the City of Mexico. At the battle of 
Contreras, on the 19th of August, 1847, where he 
led an assaulting column four thousand strong, 
General Pierce showed himself to be a brave and 
energetic soldier. Early in the fight his leg was 
broken by his horse falling upon him, yet he kept 
his saddle during the entire conflict, which did not 
cease till eleven o'clock at night. The next day 
also, he took part In the still more desperate fight 
at Churubusco, where, overcome by pain and 
exhaustion, he fainted on the field. At Molino 
Del Rey, where the hottest battle of the war was 
fought, he narrowly escaped death from a shell 
which bursted beneath his horse. 

The American army triumphantly entered the 
City of Mexico on the 13th of September, 1847. 
General Pierce remained there until the following 



C04 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

December, when he returned home and resumed 
the practice of his profession. In the Democratic 
Convention which met at Baltimore, June ist, 
1852, Cass, Buchanan, and Douglas were the 
prominent candidates. After thirty-five indecisive 
ballots Franklin Pierce was proposed, and on the 
forty-ninth ballot he was nominated for the Presi- 
dency. He was elected by an overwhelming 
majority, and was inaugurated Chief Magistrate 
on the 4th of March, 1853, receiving two hundred 
and fifty-four electoral votes, while his opponent, 
General Winfield Scott, received but forty-two. 

Though both the great parties of the country 
had adopted platforms favoring the recent com- 
promise measures of Clay, and deprecating any 
renewal of the agitation of the slavery question, 
General Pierce's Administration, by reason of the 
bringing up of that very question, was one of the 
most stormy in our history. Douglas's bill for the 
organization of Kansas and Nebraska, by which 
the MissouriCompromise Act of 1820 was repealed 
allowing slavery to enter where it had been for- 
ever excluded, and which, having the support of 
the President, became a law on the last day of 
May, 1853, excited the most intense indignation 
in the free States, and greatly increased the 
strength of the anti-slavery power. In Kansas a 
bitter contest, almost attaining the proportions 
of civil war, began between the partisans of 
the South and the North. This contest was 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



505 



Still raging when Mr. Pierce's term drew to its 
close. Other events of his Administration were the 
bombardment of Greytown, in Central America, 
under orders from our Government ; efforts 
under Government direction for the acquisition 
of Cuba ; and the use of the President's official 
influence and patronage against the Anti-Slavery 
settlers of Kansas. 

His friends sought to obtain his nomination for 
a second term, but did not succeed. On the 4th of 
March, 1857, therefore, he retired to his home at 
Concord. That home, already bereaved by the 
loss of three promising boys — his only children, 
—was now to have a still greater loss, — that of 
the wife and afflicted mother, who, grief-stricken 
at the sudden death, by a railroad accident, of her 
last boy, sunk under consumption, leaving Mr. 
Pierce alone in the world — wifeless as well as 
childless. 

The sorrowing ex-President soon after took a 
trip to Madeira, and made a protracted tour in 
Europe, returning home in i860. During the 
Civil War he delivered in Concord a speech, still 
known as the " Mausoleum of Hearts Speech," 
in which he is regarded as having expressed a 
decided sympathy for the Confederates. He died 
at Concord on the 8th of October, 1869, having 
lost much of his hold on the respect of his fellow- 
citizens, both North and South, by his lack of 
decision for either. 



co6 OUR FORMER FRESWEN2-S, 

JAMES BUCHANAN, 

FIFTEENTH President of the United States, 
was born in Franklin County, Pa., April 
2 2d, 1 79 1. His father, a native of the 
North of Ireland, who had come eight years before 
to America, with no capital but his strong arms 
and energetic spirit, was yet able to give the 
bright and studious boy a good collegiate educa 
tion at Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., where he 
graduated in 1809. He then began the study of 
law at Lancaster, and, after a three years' course, 
was admitted to practice in 181 2. He rose rap- 
idly in his profession, the business of which in- 
creased with his reputation, so that, at the age of 
forty, he was enabled to retire with an ample 
fortune. 

Mr. Buchanan early entered into politics. 
When but twenty-three years old, he was elected 
to the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Though an 
avowed Federalist, he not only spoke in favor of 
a vigorous prosecution of the War of 181 2, but 
likewise marched as a private soldier to the de- 
fense of Baltimore. In 1820, he was elected to 
the lower House of Congress, where he speedily 
attained eminence as a finished and energetic 
speaker. His political views are shown In the 
following extract from one of his speeches in 
Congress : " If I know myself, I am a politician 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 507 

neither of the West nor the East, of the North nor 
of the South. I therefore shall forever avoid any 
expressions the direct tendency of which must be 
to create sectional jealousies, and at length dis- 
union — that worst of all political calamities." 
That he sincerely endeavored in his future career 
to act in accordance with the principles here 
enunciated no candid mind can doubt, however 
much he may be regarded to have failed in doing 
so, especially during the eventful last months of 
his Administration. 

In 1 83 1, at the close of his fifth term, Mr. Bu- 
chanan, having declined a re-election to Congress, 
was sent as Minister Plenipotentiary to St. Peters- 
bure, where he concluded the first commercial 
treaty between the United States and Russia. 
On his return home in 1833, he was elected to 
the National Senate. Here he became one of 
the leading spirits among the supporters of Presi- 
dent Jackson, and also supported the Administra- 
tion of Martin Van Buren. He was re-elected 
to the Senate, and his last act as a Senator was 
to report favorably on the admission of Texas, 
he being the only member of the Committee on 
Foreign Relations to do so. 

On the election of Polk to the Presidency, in 
1845, Mr. Buchanan was selected to fill the im- 
portant position of Secretary of State. He 
strongly opposed the " Wilmot Proviso," and all 
other provisions for the restriction of slavery. 



5o8 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS, 



At the close of Polk's term, he withdrew to private 
life, but was subsequently sent by President 
Pierce as our Minister to England. It was while 
acting in this capacity that he united with Mason 
and Soule in the once celebrated " Ostend Mani- 
festo," in which strong ground was taken in favor 
of the annexation of Cuba to the United States, 
by purchase, if possible, but if necessary, by force. 

Returning home in 1856, he was nominated as 
the Democratic candidate for the Presidency^ 
and, after a stormy campaign, elected, receiving 
one hundred and seventy-four out of three hun- 
dred and three electoral votes. His opponents 
were John C. Fremont, Republican, and Millard 
Fillmore, American. He was inaugurated on the 
4th of March, 1857. With the exception of a slight 
difficulty with the Mormons in Utah, and of the 
admission into the Union of Minnesota in 1858, 
and of Oregon in 1859, the chief interest of Mr. 
Buchanan's Administration centered around the 
slavery controversy. 

At the time of his inauguration, it is true, the 
country looked confidently forward to a period of 
political quiet. But, unhappily, the Kansas diffi- 
culty had not been settled. The Free-State party 
in that territory refused obedience to the laws 
passed by the local Legislature, on the grounds 
that that Legislature had been elected by fraudu- 
lent means. They even chose a rival Legislature, 
which, however, the President refused to recog- 



:fAMES BUCHANAN. -,_^ 

nize. Meanwhile the so-called regular Legislature, 
which Congress had sanctioned, passed a bill for 
the election of delegates by the people to frame a 
State Constitution for Kansas. An election was 
accordingly held; the Convention met, and after a 
stormy and protracted session, completed its work. 
The Lecompton Constitution, as it was called, when 
laid before Congress, met with strong opposition 
from the Republicans, on the ground that it had 
been fraudulently concocted. The President, how- 
ever, gave it all his influence, believing that it 
would bring peace to the country, while not pre- 
venting Kansas from being a free State, should its 
people so desire; and finally, after a struggle of 
extraordinary violence and duration, it received 
the sanction of Conorress. 

But quiet was not restored. In the North, the 
feeling against the President and his party be- 
came intense. The election in i860 resulted in 
the triumph of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican 
candidate for the Presidency. The period between 
Lincoln's election and his inauo-uration was one 
of peculiar trial to President Buchanan. An at- 
tempt to incite a slave insurrection, made at Har- 
per's Ferry, in 1859, by John Brown, of Kansas, for 
which he was hanged by the authorities of Virginia, 
had created a profound sensation in the South, 
where it was regarded by many as Indicative of 
the fixed purpose of the North to destroy slavery 
at all hazards. The election of Lincoln followlnof 



^lO OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

SO soon after this event, added strength to their 
apprehensions. As soon as the result of the 
canvass became known, South Carohna seceded 
from the Union. Mr. Buchanan, apparently re- 
garding the fears and complaints of the South 
as not without some just grounds, seems to have 
endeavored to bring about a peaceful solution of 
the difficulties before him by attempts at concilia- 
tion. But however good his intentions may have 
been, his policy, which has been characterized as 
weak, vacillating, and cowardly, so signally failed, 
that when, on the 4th of March, 1861, he retired 
from the Presidency, he handed over to his suc- 
cessor an almost hopelessly divided Union, from 
which seven States had already seceded. 

Mr. Buchanan also used his influence for the 
purchase of Cuba as a means of extending slave 
territory. He permitted the seizure of Southern 
forts and arsenals, and the removal of muskets 
from Northern to Southern armories as the seces- 
sion movements matured, and in his message of 
December, i860, he direcdy cast upon the North 
the blame of the disrupted Union. 

Remaininor in Washinirton lono- enouo^h to wit- 
ness the installation of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Buch- 
anan withdrew to the privacy of Wheatland, his 
country home, near Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. 
Here he spent the remainder of his days, taking 
no prominent part In public affairs. In 1866, he 
published a volume entitled, Mr. Buchanans 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. c j j 

Administration, in which he explained and de- 
fended the pohcy he had pursued while in the 
Presidential office. He never married. His death 
occurred at his mansion at Wheatland, on the ist 
of June, 1868 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

SIXTEENTH President of the Union, was 
born in Hardin County, Kentucky, on the 
1 2th of February, 1809. His parents were 
extremely poor, and could give him but scant 
opportunides of education. It is supposed that 
his ancestors came to this country from England 
among the original followers of William Penn. 
About the middle of the last century they lived in 
Berks County, Pennsylvania, whence one branch 
of the family moved to Virginia. The subject of 
this sketch was taught to read and write by his 
mother, a woman of intelligence far above her 
humble station. When he was in his eighth year, 
the family removed to the then wilderness of 
Spencer County, Indiana, where, in the course of 
three or four years, the boy Abraham, who was 
quick and eager to learn, had a chance to acquire 
the rudiments of the more ordinary branches of 
such a common-school education as was to be 
obtained in that rude frontier district; but his 
mother died when he was about eleven years old, 



ri2 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

which was* to him a sad loss. At the age of nine* 
teen, he set out in a fiat-boat, containing a cargo 
of considerable value, on a voyage to New Or- 
leans. While passing down the Mississippi, they 
were attacked by a thieving band of negroes, but 
they courageously beat off the robbers, and suc- 
ceeded in reaching their destination safely. 

In 1830, Lincoln's father removed to Decatur 
County, Illinois. Here Abraham assisted in estab- 
lishing the new home. It was on this occasion 
that he split the famous rails from which, years 
after, he received his name of "the rail-splitter." 
During the severe winter which followed, by his 
exertions and skill as a hunter, he contributed 
greatly in keeping the family from starvation. 
The next two years he passed through as a farm- 
hand and as a clerk in a country store. In the 
Black-Hawk War, which broke out in 1832, he 
served creditably as a volunteer, and on his re- 
turn home ran for the Legislature, but was de- 
feated. He next tried store-keeping, but failed; 
and then, having learned something of surveying, 
worked two or three years quite successfully as a 
surveyor for the Government. In 1834, he was 
elected to the Legislature, in which he did the ex- 
tremely unpopular act of recording his name 
against some pro-slavery legislation of that body. 
He soon after took up the study of law, being ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1837, when he removed to 
Springfield, and began to practice. John T. Stuart 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN^ 



513 



was his business partner. In 1842, he married 
Miss Mary Todd, daughter of Robert S. Todd, 
Esq., of Lexington, Kentucky. He rose rapidly 
in his profession, to which having served a second 
term in the Legislature, he devoted himself assidu- 
ously till 1844, during which year he canvassed 
the State in behalf of Mr. Clay, the Whig candi- 
date for the Presidency. In 1847, ^^^ took his seat 
in the lower house of Congress, where he was the 
only Whig from the whole State of Illinois. Ser- 
ving but a single term in Congress, Mr. Lincoln, 
in 1848, canvassed the State for General Taylor, 
and the following year was an unsuccessful can- 
didate for a seat in the United States Senate. 
He now renewed his devotion to his legal pur- 
suits, yet still retained a deep interest in national 
politics. 

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which 
created a profound sensation throughout the 
entire North, brought about a complete political 
revolution in Illinois, and the State went over to 
the Whigs. In this revolution Mr. Lincoln took 
a most active part, and gained a wide reputation 
as an effective stump speaker. In 1856, he was 
brought prominently before the first Republican 
National Convention, and came very near being 
nominated as Its candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 
In 1858, as Republican candidate for United 
States Senator, he canvassed Illinois In opposition 
%o Judge Douglas, the Democratic nominee. 

33 



KIA OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS, 

Douglas was, perhaps, one of the most eflfectivo 
public speakers of the time, yet it Is generally 
conceded that Lincoln, though he failed to obtain 
the Senatorship, was fully equal to his dlstin- 
guished and no doubt more polished opponent. 
The rare versatility and comprehensiveness of 
Mr. Lincoln's mind found full illustration in this 
exciting contest. 

Durinor the next elofhteen months, Mr. Lincoln 
visited various parts of the country, delivering 
speeches of marked ability and power ; and when, 
in May, i860, the Republican National Conven- 
tion met at Chicago, he was, on the third ballot, 
chosen as its candidate for the Presidency. In 
consequence of a division In the Democratic party, 
he was elected, receiving one hundred and eighty 
out of three hundred and three electoral votes. 
In the popular vote the result was as follows * 
Lincoln, 1,887,610; Douglas, 1,291,574; Brecken- 
rldge, Pro-slavery Democrat, 880,082; Bell, Con 
stitutional-Unlon party, 646,1 24 : thus leaving 
Lincoln In the minority of the popular vote by 
nearly a million. 

The election of Lincoln was at once made a 
pretext for dissolving the Union. Though he had 
repeatedly declared his Intention not to Interfere 
with the existing institutions of the South, and to 
hold Inviolate his official oath to maintain the 
Constitution, all was of no avail to dissuade that 
section from its predetermined purpose, A 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, r i c 

month before he was Inaugurated six Southern 
States, having solemnly withdrawn from the 
Union, met in convention and framed the Consti- 
tution of a new and independent Confederacy. 

The President-elect left his home in Springfield 
on the nth of February, 1861, and proceeded by 
a somewhat circuitous route to Washington, de- 
livering short, pithy addresses in the larger 
towns and cities through which he passed. He 
also visited the Leorislatures of several North- 
ern States, everywhere reiterating his purpose, 
while not disturbine the domestic relations of 
the South, to maintain the Union intact at all 
hazards. Though informed at Philadelphia 
that a plot had been formed for his assassination 
In Baltimore, he reached Washington on Feb- 
ruary 23d without molestation, and on the 4th 
of March was duly inaugurated in the presence 
of an Immense assemblage from all parts of the 
country. 

In his Inaugural address the new President, as- 
suring the people of the South that he had taken 
the oath to support the Constitution unreservedly, 
and that there were no grounds for any fear that 
** their property," peace, or persons were to be 
endanorered, declared It to be his firm Intention 
to execute the laws, collect duties and imposts, 
and to hold the public properties In all the 
States — with no bloodshed, however, unless \% 
should be for^,ed upon the national authority. 



r I 5 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

On entering upon the duties of his office, Mr- 
Lincoln found the condition of affairs far from 
encouraging. Seven States had already with- 
drawn from the Union, and others were preparing 
to follow their example. The credit of the Gov- 
ernment was low ; the army and navy not only 
small and inefficient, but scattered all through our 
wide domain ; and the greater part of the public 
arms, through the treachery of certain officials, 
were In the possession of the seceded States. 
Still, he was hopeful and buoyant, and believed 
that the pending difficulties would soon be ad- 
justed. Even when, on the 14th of April, 1861, 
the bombardment and capture of Fort Sumter by 
a Confederate Army roused the North to intense 
action, though he Immediately Issued a call for 
75,300 volunteers, It was seemingly with but a 
faint Idea that they would be needed. The fact 
that they were summoned for only three months — 
a period far from long enough for the organization 
of so large a body of men — is of Itself sufficient 
evidence of the delusion under which he was 
laboring. 

The batrie of Bull Run, on the 21st of July, 
1 861, which resulted In the total route of the 
Government forces, In a great measure dispelled 
this delusion. The real magnitude of the contest 
now beean to show Itself to Mr. Lincoln. Yet 
his courage never faltered, nor was he less hope- 
ful of the final triumph of the Union. Cheerfully 




WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, 

Governor of Massachusetts. 



\ 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. c j ^ 

•tccepting the burden of cares and responsibilities 
so suddenly thrown upon him, he put his whole 
heart in the work before him, and not even the 
disasters of 1862, that gloomiest year of the war, 
could for a moment shake his confiding spirit. 
People were not wanting who found fault with the 
buoyant temper he displayed at that period ; but 
his apparent cheeriness was of as much avail as 
our armies in bringing about the triumph which 
at last came. 

Of the struggle which resulted in this triumph 
we shall give no details, only referring briefly to 
some of the more important actions of the Presi- 
dent. The most momentous of these, without 
doubt, was the Emancipation Proclamation, issued 
on the 22d of September, 1862, and to take effect 
on the ist of January, 1863, by which slavery was 
at once and forever done away with In the United 
States. In his message to Congress, the Presi- 
dent thus explains this act: "In eivine freedom 
to the slave we assure freedom, to the free, hon- 
orable alike in what we give and what we pre- 
serve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the 
last, best hope of earth. * ^= * The way Is 
plain, peaceful, glorious, just — a way which, If 
followed, the world will forever applaud and God 
must forever bless." 

In 1864, by a respectable majority in the popu- 
lar vote and a large one in the electoral college, 
Mr Lincoln was re-elected to the Presidency. 



5l8 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

At the period of his second inauguration, the 
complete triumph of the Federal authority over 
the seceded States was assured. The last battles 
of the war had been fouo^ht. War had substan- 
tially ceased. The President was looking forward 
to the more congenial work of pacification. How 
he designed to carry out this work we may judge 
from the following passage in his second inaugu- 
ral : " With malice toward none, with charity 
for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us 
to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work 
we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care 
for him who shall have borne the battle, and for 
his widow and his orphans, to do all that may 
achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace 
among ourselves and with all nations." 

Unfortunately, the kind-hearted Lincoln was 
not to carry out the work of pacification to which , 
he looked forward with such bright anticipations, j 
But a little more than a month after his second 
inauguration — on the night of the 14th of April, 
1865 — John Wilkes Booth, one of a small band 
of desperate conspirators, as insanely foolish as 
they were wicked, fired a pistol-ball into the brain 
of the President as he sat in his box at the theatre. 
The wound proved fatal in a few hours, Mr. Lin- 
coln never recovering his consciousness. 

The excitement which the assassination of the 
President occasioned was most intense. The 
whole country was in tears. Nar was this griel 



ANDRE W JOHNSON. 5 i g 

confined to our own people. England, France, 
dl Europe, and even die far-off countries of China 
and Japan, joined in the lamentation. Never was 
man more universally mourned, or more deserv- 
ing of such widespread sorrow. 

The funeral honors were grand and imposing. 
His body, having been embalmed, was taken to 
his hom^e at Springfield, Illinois, passing through 
Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Albany, Buf- 
falo, Cleveland, Chicago, and other large towns 
and cities. The entire road seemed to be lined 
with mourners, while in the chief cities the funeral 
ceremonies were equally solemn and magnificent. 



ANDREW JOHNSON, 

THE constitutional successor to President 
Lincoln, was born in Raleigh, N. C, De- 
cember 29th, 1808. Prevented by the 
poverty of his parents from receiving any school- 
ing, he was apprenticed, at the age of ten, to a 
tailor. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, 
he went to Greenville, Tenn., where he married. 
By his wife he was taught to write and to cipher, 
having already learned to read. Taking consid- 
erable interest in local politics, he formed a work- 
ingman's party in the town, by which he was 
elected alderman, and afterward Mayor. In 
1^35, he was elected to a seat in the Legislature, 



520 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

Failing- of re-election in 1837, he was again suc^ 
cessful in 1839; ^-nd in 1841, was elected to the 
State Senate. His ability was now recognized 
and, in 1843, he was sent to Congress as a Rep- 
resentative of the Democratic party. Having 
served five successive terms in Congress, he was, 
in 1853, elected Governor of Tennessee, and 
again in 1855. Two years later, he was called 
upon to represent Tennessee In the United States 
Senate, where he speedily rose to distinction as a 
man of great native energy. The free homestead 
bill, giving one hundred and sixty acres of the 
public land to every citizen who would settle upon 
it and cultivate it a certain number of years, owes 
its passage to his persistent advocacy. On the 
slavery question he generally went with the Dem- 
ocratic party, accepting slavery as an existing 
institution, protected by the Constitution. \ 

In the Presidential canvass of i860, Mr. Jonn- 
son was a supporter of Breckinridge, but took 
stronof orrounds aofainst secession when that sub- 
ject came up. His own State having voted itself 
out of the Union, it was at the peril of his life 
that he returned home in 1861. Attacked by a 
mob on a railroad car, he boldly faced his assail- 
ants, pistol in hand, and they slunk away. On 
the 4th of March, 1862, he was appointed Military 
Governor of Tennessee. He entered upon the 
duties of his office with a courage and vigor that 
i;oon entirely reversed the condition of affairs in 



ANDRE W JOHNSON. 5 2 1 

the State. By March, 1 864, he had so far restored 
order that elections were held for State and 
County officers, and the usual machinery of civil 
government was once more set in motion. 

On the 4th of March, 1865, Mr. Johnson was 
inaugurated as Vice-President of the United 
States. The assassination of President Lincoln, 
a litde more than a month afterward, placed him 
in the vacant chief executive chair. Though Mr. 
Johnson made no disdnct pledges, it was thought 
by the tone of his inaugural that he would pursue 
a severe course toward the seceded States. Yet 
the broad policy of restoradon he finally adopted, 
met the earnest disapproval of the great party by 
which he had been elected. The main point at 
issue was, " whether the seceded States should 
be at once admitted to representation in Congress, 
and resume all the rights they had enjoyed before 
the Civil War, without further guarantees than the 
surrender of their armies, and with no provision 
for protecdng the emancipated blacks." 

Johnson, opposed to making any restrictive 
condidons, therefore persistendy vetoed the vari- 
ous reconstructive measures adopted by Congress. 
Though these measures were finally passed over 
the President's vetoes by two-thirds of the votes 
of each house, yet his determined opposition to 
their policy, on the ground that it was unconsd- 
tudonal, gave Congress great offense. This feeling 
finally became so intense, that the House of Reprc- 



522 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 



sentatlves brought articles of impeachment against 
him. The trial — the first of its kind known in our 
history — was conducted by the United States 
Senate, presided over by the Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court. The impeachment failed, how- 
ever, yet only lacked one vote of the two-thirds 
majority requisite to the President's conviction. 

In 1866, Mr. Johnson made a tour to Chicago, 
in the course of which he made many petty 
speeches, which brought upon him both censure 
and ridicule, but he was regarded as politically 
harmless, and to the close of his term, March 4th, 
1869, he was allowed to pursue his own policy 
with but little opposition. Retiring to his home 
at Greenville, he began anew to take an active 
part in the politics of his State. It required sev- 
eral years, however, for him to regain an}M:hing 
like his earlier popularity ; but finally, in January. 
1875, ^^ succeeded in securing his election once 
more to the Senate of the United States, but 
he died on the 30th of the following July. 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

HISTORY has recorded few instances of 
the rapid and unexpected rise of individ- 
uals in humble circumstances to the \\\'A\- 
est positions, more remarkable than that afforded 
by the life of Ulysses S. Grant, the eighteenth 



UL YSSES S. GRANT. r -, ^ 

President of the United States. He was the son 
of Jesse R. and Hannah Simpson Grant, both na- 
tives of Pennsylvania. He was born April 27th, 
1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. 
His early education was merely that of the com- 
mon schools of his day. By a conjunction of 
favoring circumstances, he passed, in 1839, fi*oni 
the bark- mill of his father's tannery to the Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point. He was a diligent 
but not distinoruished student. Havincr q^raduated 
in 1843, the twenty-first in a class of thirty-nine, he 
signalized himself by his bravery in the Mexican 
War, being rewarded therefor by a captain's com- 
mission. He then married Miss Julia J. Dent, of 
Saint Louis, and, after spending several years with 
his regiment in California and Oregon, left the 
service in July, 1854, tried farming and the real 
estate business with moderate success, and finally 
was taken by his father as a partner in his leather 
store at Galena. 

•He was yet thus humbly employed when Presi- 
dent Lincoln issued his call for 75,000 three 
months' men. Marching to Springfield at the 
head of a company of volunteers, his military 
knowledge made him exceedingly useful to Gov- 
ernor Yates, who retained him as mustering officer, 
until he was commissioned colonel of the Twenty- 
first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers, on the 1 7th of 
June, 1 86 1. The following August, having been 
made a. brigadier-general, he took command at Cai- 



r24 ^^^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

ro, where he displayed much activity and attracted 
some attention. On the 7th of November he 
fought the Battle of Belmont, where he had a 
horse shot under him. His capture of Fort Don- 
elson, with all Its defenders, on the 15th of Febru- 
ary, 1862, after a severe battle resulting In the first 
real and substantial triumph of the war, at once 
gave Grant a national reputation. For this bril- 
liant victory he was Immediately rewarded by a 
commission as major-general of volunteers. 

Soon after the capture of Donelson, General 
Grant was placed In command of an Important 
expedition up the Tennessee River. At Pittsburg 
Landing, while preparing for an attack on Corinth, 
a part of his army was surprised, at daybreak of 
the 6th of April, by an overwhelming force of 
Confederates, and driven from their camp with 
severe loss. Rallying his men that evening under 
the protection of the gun-boats, Grant, having 
been reinforced during the night, renewed the 
battle the following morning, and, after an obsti- 
nate contest, compelled the enemy to fall back 
upon Corinth. 

In July^ General Grant was placed In command 
of the Department of West Tennessee, with his 
headquarters at Corinth, which the Confederates 
had evacuated In the previous May. On the iQtli 
of September he gained a complete victory over 
the Confederates at luka, and then removed his 
headauarters to Jackson, Tennessee. VIcksburg, 



VL YSSES S. GRANT, c 2 C 

on the Mississippi, having been strongly fortified 
and garrisoned by the enemy, the duty of taking 
that place devolved upon Grant. After several 
attempts against it from the north, all of which 
resulted more or less disastrously, he finally 
moved his army down the west bank of the river, 
and, crossing to the east side, at a point below the 
city, began, on the i8th of May, 1863, a formal 
siege, which lasted until the 4th of the ensuing 
July, when the place was surrendered, with nearly 
thirty thousand prisoners and an immense amount 
of military stores. 

Grant's capture of Vicksburg, the result of that 
tenacity of purpose which is a marked trait in his 
character, was hailed with unbounded delight by 
the whole country. He was immediately commis- 
sioned a major-general in the regular army, and 
placed in command of the entire military Division 
of the Mississippi. Congress also, meeting in 
December, ordered a gold medal to be struck for 
him, and passed resolutions of thanks to him and 
his army. Still further, a bill reviving the grade 
of lieutenant-general was passed, and, on the ist 
of March, 1864, Grant was appointed by Presi- 
dent Lincoln to the position thus created. 

Having now been placed at the head of an 
army of seven hundred thousand men, Grant, 
announcing that his headquarters would be in the 
field, "at once planned two movements, to be di- 
rected simultaneously against vital points of the 



^26 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

Confederacy." One of these, with Richmond foi 
its point of attack, he commanded in person ; the 
other, against Atlanta, in Georgia, was headed by 
General Sherman. 

On the 3d of May, Grant began the movement 
against Richmond, crossing the Rapidan, and 
pushing determinedly into the " Wilderness," 
where, met by Lee, a bloody battle was fought, 
foiling his first attempt to place himself between 
the Confederate Army and their threatened capi- 
tal. Advancing by the left flank, he was again 
confronted by Lee at Spottsylvania, and com- 
pelled to make another flank movement, resulting 
in his again being brought to a stand by his wary 
antagonist. Declaring his determination " to 
fight it out on this line if it tool^ him all summer," 
Grant still pushed on by a series of flank move- 
ments, each culminating in a sanguinary battle, 
in which his losses were fearful, and finally, pass- 
ing Richmond on the east, crossed the James, 
and laid siege to the city of Petersburg, the cap- 
ture of which now became the great problem of 
the war. 

Grant crossed the James on the 15th of June, 

1864. It was not until the beginning of April, 

1865, after a series of desperate assaults, coming 
to a crisis in the battle of Five Forks, in which 
Grant gained a crowning triumph, that Peters- 
burg finally succumbed. The fall of Petersburg 
compelled Lee to evacuate Richmond with the 



UL YSSES S. GRANT. 507 

meagre remnant of his army. He retreated 
westward toward Danville, followed closely by 
Grant. At the same time Sherman, who had met 
with almost unparalleled success in his part of the 
concerted movement, was marching triumphantly 
through Alabama and Georgia to the sea-coast, 
along which he swept northward, and was threat- 
ening Lee from another quarter, so that, placed 
between two large armies, both flushed with vic- 
tory, no other resource was left him than to sur- 
render the thin remnant of his force. This he 
did, to Grant, at Appomattox Court-House, on the 
9th of April, 1865, and the "Great Rebellion " was 
thus virtually brought to a close. 

On the conclusion of the war. Grant made 
Washington his headquarters, and was, in July, 
1866, commissioned General of the United States 
Army — a rank which had been specially created 
to do him honor. In August, 1867, he for awhile 
acted as Secretary of War ad mterim under 
President Johnson ; but, notwithstanding the lat- 
ter's earnest request to the contrary, he, when the 
Senate refused to sanction Stanton's removal, 
restored the position to that gentleman, from 
whom it had been taken. 

In the Republican National Conventron, held at 
Chicago, on the 21st of May, 1868, General Grant 
was on the first ballot unanimously nominated as 
the candidate of that party for the Presidency. 
His Democratic competitor was Horatio Sey- 



r 2 S OUR- FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

mour, of New York. The election resulted in 
Grant receivinor- two hundred and fourteen out of 
two hundred and ninety-four electoral votes. He 
was inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1869. 
Thouorh brouo-ht into conflict with some of the 

o o 

prominent men of his party by his determined 
effort to bring about the annexation of San Do- 
mingo to the United States, President Grant's 
first official term ijave satisfaction to the mass of 
his Republican adherents. During the first six 
months of his term the public debt was reduced 
some fifty millions of dollars, order and prosper- 
ity were rapidly restored throughout the Southern 
States, and the hatred and animosities of the war 
were greatly softened, though Grant's firmness in 
many instances had begotten severe opposition. 

In their National Convention at Philadelphia, 
on the 5th of June, 1872, he was nominated by 
acclamation for a second term. His opponent in 
this contest was Horace Greeley, who was sup- 
ported by both the Democrats and the so-called 
Liberal Republicans. The election resulted in 
the success of General Grant, who received two 
hundred and sixty-eight out of the three hundred 
and forty-eight electoral votes cast. He was in- 
augurated a second time on the 4th of March, 

1873. 

Grant's second term was one of improving 
prospects, though the transitions from the exces- 
sive inflations attendant on the war to the solid 



UL YSSEF S. GRANT, r -o 

5-9 

business basis of peace made financial affairs un- 
steady and led to the famous panic of ''j'iy^ But 
prosperity returned gradually and on a more solid 
basis, and the great Centennial Exposition of 1876, 
at Philadelphia, was a fitting crown upon the final 
year of Grant's eight years of Presidential work 
and honor. In his last message to Congress 
he urged compulsory common-school education 
where other means of education are not provided; 
the exclusion of all sectarianism from public 
schools; the prohibition of voting, after 1890, to 
all persons unable to read and write ; the perma- 
nent separation of Church and State; entire reli- 
mous freedom for all sects, and lecrlslation to 
speedily secure a return to sound currency. 

General Grant was strongly urged to accept 
the nomination for a third term, but declined the 
honor and retired to private life, March 4th, 1877. 
After his long-continued public service, an ex- 
tended trip abroad was deemed desirable by the 
General. Arrancrements were matured accord- 
ingly, and on May 1 7th, 1877, he sailed from Phila- 
delphia in the steamer Indiana. His journey was 
prosperous In every respect. He made the tour 
of the world and reached San Francisco Septem- 
ber 20th, 1879. Everywhere he was the recipient 
of the highest honors. The most distinguished 
crowned heads and military leaders of all nations 
were proud to do him honor, and he In return did 
many personal friendly offices which were mosf 
34 



530 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

gratefully recognized. He finally settled In New 
York city, where fatal sickness overtook him, and 
he died July 23d, 1885. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 

RUTHERFORD BIRCHARD HAYES, 
the nineteenth incumbent of the Presiden- 
tial chair, was born at Delaware, Ohio, 
October 4th, 1822. He enjoyed the most favorable 
surroundings of refinement and culture in his 
youth, and graduated at Kenyon College in 1842. 
In 1845, he graduated from the Harvard Law 
School and began practice in Fremont, Ohio, 
from which place he removed to Cincinnati in 1849. 
He served as City Solicitor for several years, 
until the breaking out of the war, when he took 
the field as major of the Twenty- third Ohio Volun- 
teers. He had a splendid record, rising to the com- 
mand of a division, being breveted major-general, 
and continuing until June ist, 1865, when he re- 
signed his rank and returned to Cincinnati. 

In December, 1865, he entered Congress, to 
which he had been elected before he left the army. 
He was re-elected to this position, but resigned 
to become Governor of Ohio, to which office he 
was three times chosen, an honor never before 
conferred in that State. The prominent issues in 
Vis last campaign for the Governorship were the 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 53I 

currency and the school questions. So satis 
factory were his views on these measures, that he 
received much favorable mention for nommation 
in the Presidential campaign then approachmg. 

On June i6th, 1876, the Republican Convention 
met at Cincinnati, and on the seventh ballot 
Hayes received the nomination over James G. 
Blame and Benjamin H. Bristow. Hayes received 
three hundred and eighty-four vot^s. Blame three 
hundred and fifty-one, and Bristow twenty-one. 
The contest was bitter in the Convention and in 
the succeeding canvass, and its close was a disputed 
election, the electoral votes of Florida, South Caro- 
lina, and Louisiana being claimed by both parties, 
as was one electoral vote of Oregon also. The 
contest was finally referred to an Electoral Com- 
mission, which decided by a vote of eight to seven 
that Hayes was elected, and he, accordingly, sue 
ceeded General Grant in the office on March 4th. 
1877 the inauguration occurring on the next day, 
Monday, March 5th. The great feature of this 
Administration was the full resumption of specie 
payments, a success achieved without jar or con- 
fusion of any kind in the business of the country. 
At the close of his term, March 4th, 1 881, Mr. 
Hayes turned over the Administration to his suc- 
cessor amid peace and prosperity such as the na- 
tion seldom enjoyed, and returned to his home in 
Ohio, where he still lives (July, 1884). respected 
and beloved by all his fellow-citizens. 



r^i OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

JAMES A. GARFIELD. 

THE nation's choice for the twenty-fourth 
Presidential term, James Abram Garfield, 
was born November 19th, 1 831, at Orange, 
Cuyahoga County, Ohio. His ancestors were early 
immigrants of New England, and they bore noble 
part in all the hardships and sufferings of the Rev- 
olutionary and earlier periods. His parents were 
Abram and Eliza Garfield, his father dying when 
James was but a child, and his mother surviving to 
see his exaltation to the Presidency and his un- 
timely end. 

James Garfield's early life was one filled with 
the struggles incident to poverty on the frontier 
settlements. On the farm, on the canal, and at 
the carpenter's bench, he toiled energetically, read- 
ing and studying all the while, that he might fit 
himself for college. He finally betook himself to 
teachinor as a means of subsistence, and while so 
engaged pressed his own education diligently. He 
decided to enter Williams College, Mass., which 
he did, in June, 1854, in a class nearly two years 
advanced. He had saved some money, but he 
worked during his vacations and at spare mo- 
ments, and so was enabled to complete his course, 
though somewhat in debt, graduating August, 1856. 
While yet a student, he became much interested in 
politics and made some speeches on his favorite 
views. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. ^ 533 

After his graduation, he entered Hiram College, 
Ohio, as a teacher of ancient languages and liter- 
ature, and soon after became its President. Mean- 
while, he was active in a wide variety of good 
works, preaching, addressing temperance meet- 
ings, making political speeches, and at the same 
time pursuing the study of the law. In 1858, he 
married Lucretia Rudolph, who had been a fellow- 
student with him in his academic schooldays. 

As a logical and effective political speaker, Gar- 
field soon became prominent, and in 1859 was 
elected to the Senate of his native State, where he 
immediately took high rank, although he still con- 
tinued to be much engaged in literary and relig- 
ious work. In August, 1861, he solemnly consid- 
ered the question of entering the army, and wrote 
his conclusion thus : '' I regard my life as given to 
my country. I am only anxious to make as much 
of it as possible before the mortgage on it is fore- 
closed." 

As a soldier, Garfield was thorough, brave, and 
efi^cient. He had a large share of hard fighting in 
the West and the Southwest, but he won high praise 
in it all, rising from the rank of lieutenant-colonel 
to that of brigadier-general and chief of staff to 
General Rosecrans, in which capacity he served 
until the batde of Chickamauga had been fought, 
when he was promoted to a major-generalship 
for "o-allant and meritorious conduct" on that 
bloody field. 



c^A <DUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

Just before this battle, Garfield had been chosen 
by his fellovv-cltlzens In Ohio as their representa- 
tive in Congress. To accept this post was deemed 
his duty by all his friends and advisers, so he re- 
signed his commission on the 5th of December, 
1863, and took his place in Congress at less than 
half the salary drawn by one of his military rank. 
In this new position he exercised the same earn- 
est conscientiousness he had ever shown. He was 
a master workman in every line of duty there for 
seventeen years, during which period he left the 
imprint of his ability and patriotism as thoroughly 
upon the legislation of the country as any one 
man in public service. He certainly realized the 
meaning of the title, "a public benefactor," as de- 
fined In his own speech made on December loth, 
1878, in which he said: "The man who wants to 
serve his country must put himself in the line of 
its leadincr thouo^ht, and that is the restoration of 
business, trade, commerce, industry, sound polit- 
ical economy, hard money, and the payment of all 
obligations, and the man who can add anything In 
the direction of accomplishing any of these pur- 
poses is a public benefactor." 

No man with such an Ideal could fail to at once 
take hicrh rank. Nor did Garfield fail to do so. 
At the outset he was recognized as a leader, and 
his influence Q^rew with his service. He was at 
once appointed on the Military Committee, under 
the chairmanship of General Schenck and the col- 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. cnc 

leagueshlp of Farnsworth, both fresh from the 
field. In this work he was of great service — just 
as Rosecrans anticipated he would be. His thor- 
ough knowledge of the wants of the army was of 
the first value in all legislation pertaining to mil- 
itary matters. He was appointed chairman of a 
select committee of seven appointed to investigate 
the alleged frauds in the money-printing bureau 
of the Treasury, and on other very important and 
complicated matters he rendered service of the 
greatest value. 

He did most excellent work, as an orator, on 
many momentous questions, as the folio wing partial 
list of his published Congressional speeches will 
show : ** Free Commerce between the States ;" 
"National Bureau of Education;" "The Public 
Debt and Specie Payments ;" "Taxation of United 
States Bonds ;" " Ninth Census ;" " Public Expen- 
ditures and Civil Service;" "The Tariff;" "Cur- 
rency and the Banks ;" " Debate on the Currency 
Bill ;" " On the McGarrahan Claim ;" " The Right 
to Originate Revenue Bills;" ''Public Expendi- 
tures ;" " National Aid to Education ," " The Cur- 
rency ;" " Revenues and Expenditures ;" " Curren- 
cy and the Public Faith ;" "Appropriations;" "Count- 
ing the Electoral Vote ;" " Repeal of the Resump- 
tion Law ;" " The New Scheme of American Fi- 
nance ;" "The Tariff;"" Suspension and Resump- 
tion of Specie Payments ;" " Relation of the Na- 
tional Government to Science ;" " Sugar Tariff." 



r^5 ^^'-^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

It was a surprise to nobody, but a real pleasure 
to multitudes, when at Chicago, on June 8th, 1880, 
James A. Garfield received the nomination for 
the Presidency by three hundred and ninety-nine 
votes in a total of seven hundred and fifty-five-. 
This was upon the thirty-sixth ballot of the nomi- 
natinor Convention, but not until then had Garfield 
been prominently brought forward. His nomi- 
nation was at once made unanimous in the Con- 
vention, and hailed with joy throughout the land. 
His chief opponent was the superb soldier, Major- 
General Winfield S. Hancock, but Garfield and 
Arthur received two hundred and fourteen of 
three hundred and sixty-nine electoral votes and 
secured the highest ofiices in the gift of the na^ 
tion. 

Garfield was inaugurated amid general satisfac- 
tion throuirhout the nation. His venerable mother 
saw her son's exaltation on that memorable In- 
auguration Day, and received from him, as the 
newly made President, his kiss of filial love. 
Every department of the public service felt the 
force of the new regime, and prosperity beamed 
on every side until the fatal Saturday, July 2d, 
1 88 1, when the assassin's bullet cut short the era 
of joy and hopefulness which had just fairly 
dawned. After weeks of patient suffering he 
died at Elberon, N. J., September 29, 1881. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR, 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



537 



THE exodus from foreign lands to this coun- 
try has at all times since the early years 
of the present century been remarkable 
for its steadiness — though varying during the de- 
cades. A home in freedom and a chance for a 
fortune in climes where centuries have not bound 
with iron every man's position is always an incen- 
tive to brave spirits. 

Amone those who took the tide in its flow, at 
the beofinninor of the twenties, was a young Pro- 
testant Irishman from Ballymena, County Antrim, 
who bore the name of William Arthur. He was 
eighteen years of age, a graduate of Belfast Col- 
lege, and thoroughly imbued with the intention o{ 
becoming a Baptist clergyman. In this he perse- 
vered, was admitted to the ministry, took a degree 
of D.D., and followed a career of great usefulness, 
which did not terminate until he died, at Newton- 
ville, near Albany, October 27th, 1875. He was 
in many respects a remarkable man. He acquired 
a wide fame in his chosen career, and entered suc- 
cessfully the great competition of authors. He 
published a work on Family Names that is to- 
day regarded as one of the curiosities of English 
erudite literature. 

He married, not long after entering the minis- 
try, an American, Malvina Stone, who bore him 



c ^ g OUR FORMER PRESIDE A TS. 

a family of two sons and five daughters. Of 
these, Chester Allan, the subject of this sketch, 
was born at Fairfield, Franklin County, Vermont, 
October 5th, 1830. From his home studies he 
w^ent to a wider field of instruction in the insti- 
tutions of Schenectady, in the grammar school of 
which place he was prepared for entering Union 
College. This he did at the age of fifteen (1845), 
and took successfully the regular course, excelHng 
in all his studies and graduating very high in the 
class of 1848. 

On crraduatinor he entered the law school at Ball- 
ston Springs. By rigid economy and hard work, he 
had managed to save five hundred dollars, and with 
this in his pocket he went to New York, and entered 
the law office of Erastus D. Culver, afterward minis- 
ter to one ofthe South American States and a judge 
of the Civil Court of Brooklyn. Soon after entering 
Judge Culver's office, he was — in 1852 — admitted 
to the bar, and formed the firm of Culver, Partsen 
& Arthur, which was dissolved in 1837. -^^ sooner 
had he won his title to appear in the courts, than 
he formed a partnership with an old friend, Henry 
D. Gardner, with an intention of practicing in the 
West, and for three months these young gende- 
men roamed throucrh the Western States in search 
of a place to locate. In the end, not satisfied, they 
returned to New York and began practice. 

The law career of Mr. Arthur includes some 
notable cases. One of his first cases was the cele- 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. r^^ 

J •'9 

brated Lemmon suit. In 1852, Jonathan and Juliet 
Leinmon, Vir^-inia slaveholders, intending to emi- 
grate to Texas, went to New York to await the 
sailinor of a steamer, brinofinor eio^ht slaves with 
them. A writ of habeas corpus was obtained from 
Judge Paine to test the question whether the 
provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law were in force 
in that State. Ji-idge Paine rendered a decision 
holding that they were not, and ordering the Lem- 
mon slaves to be liberated. Henry L. Clinton 
was one of the counsel for the slaveholders. A 
howl of rage went up from the South, and the 
Virginia Legislature authorized the Attorney- 
General of that State to assist in taking an appeal. 
William M. Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were 
employed to represent the people, and they won 
their case, which then went to the Supreme Court 
of the United States. Charles O'Conor here 
espoused the cause of the slaveholders, but he, 
too, was beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, 
and a long step was thus taken toward the 
emancipation of the black race. 

Mr Arthur always took an mterest in politics 
and the political surroundings of his day. His 
political life began at the age of fourteen, as a 
champion of the Whig party. He shared, too, in 
the turbulence of political life at that period, and 
it is related of him during the Polk-Clay canvass 
that, while he and some of his companions were 
raising an ash pole In honor of Henry Clay, some 



e .Q OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

Democratic boys attacked the party of Whigs, 
and young Arthur, who was the recognized leader 
of the party, ordered a charge, and, taking the 
front ranks himseh', drove the young Democrats 
from the field with broken heads and subdued 
spirits. He was a delegate to the Saratoga Con- 
vention that founded the Republican party in New 
York State. He was active in local politics, and 
he gradually became one of the leaders. He 
nominated, and by his efforts elected, the Hon. 
Thomas Murphy a State Senator. When the 
latter resigned the Collectorship of the Port, in 
November, 1871, Arthur was appointed by Presi- 
dent Grant to fill the vacancy. 

He was nominated for the Vice-Presidency at 
Chicago on the evening of Tuesday, June loth. 
He was heartily indorsed by the popular and 
electoral vote, and on the death of President 
Garfield, September 19th, 1881, he assumed the 
Presidential chair. His Administration was un- 
eventful, but was attended with general peace 
and prosperity. He died November 18th, 1886. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 

BENJAMIN HARRISON, twenty-third Pres- 
ident of the United States, comes of an 
illustrious ancestry. Whether the Crom- 
wellian Harrison transmitted to our Chief Maeis- 
trate any of his sterling qualities or not. Is matter 
of little moment. The immediate ancestors of 
Benjamin Harrison were such as transmit the 
blessing of noble heredity to their descendants. 
The first of these of whom we need speak was 
Benjamin Harrison, of Berkley, Virginia, who has 
the immortal inscription attached to his name — 
Signer of the Declaration of Independence. This 
illustrious American had several children, of whom 
William Henry Harrison was second son. Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison won distinction as a soldier, 
as a civil officer, and as a man, his distinguished 
career ending in his elevation to the Presidency 
of the United States. This high position he held 
but one month, when he died, after having served 
his country through a period of fifty years. His 
third son was christened John Scott Harrison, a 
gentleman of quiet habits, who represented his 
district twice in Congress, but declined a nomina- 
tion for the Lieutenant-Governorship of Ohio, and 
retired to the duties of his rural home, where he 
died in 1878, loved by his neighbors and respected 

541 



CA2 OUR FORMER PRE SIDE XTS. 

by all who knew him. His second son was the 
Benjamin Harrison of our sketch, who was born 
at North Bend, Ohio, in his grandfather's house, 
on the 20th day of August, 1833. 

Benjamin was brought up to an abundance of 
hard work as a farmer's boy in a comparatively 
new country, but his toil was generally inter- 
spersed with hunting, fishing, and the ordinary 
rural sports of the time, and he was famous as an 
expert shot with the rifle. He attended an old- 
fashioned country school as opportunity offered 
until 1847, when, with his elder brother, he was 
sent to school near Cincinnati, in what became 
known as Farmer's College. Here he spent two 
years, applying himself to Latin, Greek, mathe- 
matics, and the usual academic studies. He next 
entered Miami University at Oxford, Ohio. After 
his graduation from tliis institution, he decided to 
study law, and entered, as a student, the office of 
Stover & Gwynne, one of the notable law firms 
of Cincinnati. While thus enoraored, he lived at 
the house of his sister, Mrs. Eaton, whose hus- 
band was a physician in active practice. Before 
he had quite finished his legal course, he returned 
to Oxford, where, in his college days, he had be- 
come encjaofed to Miss Caroline W. Scott, daucjh- 
ter of Dr. John W. Scott, president of an acad- 
emy for young ladies at that place. The youthful 
couple were married on the 20th of October, 1853; 
soon after which, with his wife, the young bride- 



BEyjAM/y HARRISON' - . ^ 

groom returned to his father's place below Cin- 
cinnati, where he continued his studies, goincr up 
frequently to the office for examination. While 
thus occupied he was on the lookout for a loca- 
tion. His father's farm -touched the boundary 
line of Indiana, which State became as familiar to 
him as his native Ohio, and he finally resolved to 
establish himself in Indianapolis, whither, having 
passed his period of probation, he betook himself 
in March, 1854. 

At that time the young lawyer was small of 
stature, slender in form, and what might be called 
a blonde. His eyes were gray, tinged with blue, 
his hair light, while he dressed plainly, paying lit- 
tle attention to the canons of fashion. He was 
modest in manner, even diffident ; but he had a 
pleasant voice and look, and did not lack for 
words to express himself On the whole his ap- 
pearance and non-assertive manner were not cal- 
culated to advance him rapidly in a profession 
which demands a fair measure of self-assurance. 

But he won his way, and in the fall of 1854 set 
up housekeeping on the south side of Vermont 
street, east of New Jersey street. The residence 
was very modest, in accordance with the renter's 
income. It was a structure of one story, with 
three apartments, of which the front was used as a 
bed-room, the next as kitchen and dinincr-room. 
There was also a shed-kitchen attached. Some- 
times they had a ** help," though, as a rule, Mrs. 



rAA OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

Harrison did the cooking, and was herself the 
housekeeper. He assisted her all he could. 
Not unfrequently he sawed the wood she required ; 
his last duty before going to the office at morning 
and noon was to fill the wood-box and buckets. 
Abroad and at home he was void of affectation or 
pretense. He struggled vigorously against get- 
tinor in debt and succeeded. Referrin(T to that 
period, he laughs, and says, " They were close 
times, I tell you. A five dollar bill was an event. 
There was one eood friend throuorh it all — Robert 
Browninor, the druQforist. I shall always recollect 
him with gratitude. He believed in me. When 
things were particularly tight I could go into his 
store and borrow five dollars from the drawer. A 
ticket in its place was all that was required. Such 
friends make life worth livinor." 

When the gloom of the civil war began to 
darken, Mr. Harrison felt that duty called him, 
and raising a company in his own city he was soon 
in camp. His first commission was as Second 
Lieutenant, but when the regiment was full he 
was made Its Colonel, his command beine the 
Seventieth Indiana. The regiment found hard 
service along the western rivers, and finally In the 
advance on Adanta, In all of which Colonel Harri- 
son distinguished himself for bravery and fidelity. 
He could always be depended upon to do the 
duty assigned him, and could be trusted In any 
emergency. His soldiers came to feel toward him 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. ^.r 

a dving confidence that found expression In the 
title, "Little Ben," the sobriquet by which they 
still know him. Colonel Harrison showed con- 
spicuous skill and bravery at Resaca, New Hope 
Church, Gilga Church, Kenesaw, Peach Tree 
Creek, Nashville, and In many minor battles. At 
Peach Tree Creek his corps commander. General 
Hooker, saluted him with this bluff commendation, 
!* By God, I'll make you a Brigadier-General for 
this fight." After the capture of Savannah, Harri- 
son was ordered to join Sherman, which he did, 
and resumed command of his old brigade in the 
Third Division of the Twentieth Army Corps, 
with which he marched, via Richmond, to Wash- 
inorton for the Grand Review. 

General Harrison beo^an his political career as 
a stump speaker under circumstances that were 
not very exciting. His first essay was in nowise 
distinguishable from the first essays of young men 
generally. In 1855 his law partner, Mr. William 
Wallace, became a candidate for clerk of Marion 
County and he took to the stump to help him. 
The first meeting he addressed was at Acton, 
on the line of the road from Cincinnati 
to Indianapolis. The depot building, with the 
narrow platform, was made available for the 
purpose. He stood on the railroad track be- 
tween the rails, while his audience — 15 to 20 
persons in all — occupied the platform. In 1856 
the Fremont campaign came on. There was 



CA^ OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

much political excitement. The election of a 
President of the United States furnished a 
broader theme to an ambitious speaker than the 
election of a county clerk. The news having- 
reached Indianapolis of the nomination of the great 
" Pathfinder," the Republicans turned out spon- 
taneously to ratify it. There was no programme 
for the affair. The speakers were such as could 
be reached upon the spur of the moment, and 
Harrison was one of those impressed into service 
for the occasion. He was in his law office at 
night after supper, doing some work, when W. 
W. Roberts, a druggist of the city, and some 
other gentlemen, came in and said that they were 
havino; a ratification meetincr at the old Bee Hive 
corner, and that he must come and make a 
speech. He said he would not go ; he did not 
know what to say, it was all so sudden. But 
they insisted, and finally picked him up — he was 
not very heavy in those days — put their arms 
about him, and bore him down-stairs, and kept 
on with him, his feet never touching the ground, 
until they put him on a store box that had been 
rolled out into the street at the corner. Upon 
readjusting himself after the unceremonious shak- 
ing up, he found himself surrounded by a crowd 
of 300 or 400 people. There was no way out of 
the affair but to speak ; accepting the situation, 
he proceeded and did his best. That the speech 
was a success, and brought him reputation and 



BEXJAMIX HARRISON: r .y 

friends, may be inferred from the fact that in the 
same campaign he was first in demand in the 
school-houses through the country. Indeed, as a 
speaker, he was from that time a general fa- 
vorite. 

In i860 he was nominated for Recorder of the 
Supreme Court. This opened to him a broader 
field of oratory, and he entered upon a canvass 
of the State. He took part in the Lincoln elec- 
tion canvass of 1864, and in the Grant campaigns 
of 1868 and 1872 he traveled all over the State, 
addressing large audiences. The election of 
1876 was inaugurated in Indiana under peculiar 
circumstances. Many influential Republicans in 
the State insisted personally and by letter that 
General Harrison should allow his name to 0-0 
on the ticket for Governor ; but to all such over- 
tures he gave one answer, positively declining the 
honor. The Hon. Godlove S. Orth was nomi- 
nated, but some opposition having developed, 
that gentleman withdrew from the race pending 
the canvass, leaving the Republican ticket with- 
out a head. 

General Harrison, supposing the matter set- 
tled, had gone away for a rest. He betook 
himself to the north shore of Lake Supeiior, 
where, beyond the reach of mail or telegraphic 
communication, he engaged in the pleasanter oc- 
cupation of fishing for trout. He knew nothing 
of what was going on in^ politics at home until, 



-^3 ^^'^ FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

on his return, he reached Mackinaw. There, in 
a Chicago paper several days old, he read of Mr. 
Orth's withdrawal. Upon getting to Fort Wayne 
he was apprised by telegraph that the Central 
Committee had substituted him in Mr. Orth's 
place. Altogether, seeing no way to refuse the 
solicitation of the party, he acceded to it. Tiie 
result of the election was unfavorable to him, but 
he ran very handsomely ahead of the rest of his 
ticket. Two years later he was called upon to 
preside over the State Convention, and in i8So 
we find him in the National Convention at Chi- 
cao^o, chairman of the delectation from Indiana. 
In 1884 he again represented the State as dele- 
gate-at large, and was discussed in connection 
with the nomination for the first place on the Na- 
tional ticket. He participated actively in the 
campaign of 1880, and, when the election was 
over, became a candidate for the United States 
Senate, and was unanimously chosen. He filled 
this exalted position with credit for the six years 
of his term, and then, with the respect of his 
political enemies, and the unabated confidence of 
his party, he retired to his law office and engaged 
once more in his profession. While there he was 
called to the higher honor of the Presidency, re- 
ceiving, upon the eighth ballot of the National Con- 
vention, 544 votes out of a total of 820, the nomina- 
tion thenbeino- made unanimouswithorreat enthusi- 
asm. During the campaign he conducted himself 



BENJAMIX H. 4 RRISON. r . ^ 

with unerring wisdom, winning commendation and 
support every day, and at the National election re- 
ceiving 233 electoral votes out of a total of 401. Pre- 
sident Harrison was inaugurated March 4th, 1889. 
This day has become notorious for the drenching 
rain that fell from mornintr till nicrht, in which, 
with an enthusiasm that many waters could not 
drown, a soaked and steaming mass of humanity 
waited hours to witness the inauguration ceremo- 
nies. General Harrison was urged by some cau- 
tious people, who remembered the fate of his 
grandfather, to hold the inaugural ceremonies 
within the Capitol, but he refused to disappoint 
the waiting multitude without, declaring that he 
could stand the storm as well as they. Nearly 
20,coo persons marched in the escorting proces- 
sion, which probably was not half as many as 
would have participated but for the storm. 

It was a scene unparalleled in the history of 
inaugurations of Presidents that burst upon the 
eye of General Harrison when he emerged from 
the ponderous bronze doors at the eastern en- 
trance of the Capitol. Before him stretched ten 
thousand square feet of platform, covered with 
rows of soaked chairs, and runninor with litde 
streams of water. The great plaza on which this 
platform looked was literally covered with human 
beings, whose upturned faces formed a floor of 
countenances upon which the rain beat pitilessly. 
They had stood there for hours. Beyond was a vast 



OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

space covered with umbrellas, rising like black 
mushrooms. Still beyond were glimpses of the 
bright but soaked uniforms and glistening bayo- 
nets of the troops, who waited to escort the new 
chief of the Nation to the Executive mansion. 
When the President-elect appeared an outburst 
of cheers greeted him, and for a time drowned 
every other sound. After silence had been partly 
secured, the Chief Justice arose, and, baring his 
abundant white locks to the rain, held a Bible in 
his right hand ready to administer the oath of 
office. General Harrison also removed his hat. 
It was a most imoressive scene. Standinor with 
uncovered heads in the midst of a pelting rain- 
storm that drove the mist in their faces, the 
Chief Justice and the President-elect, surrounded 
by liigh officers of State, and in full view of an 
immense multitude of citizens of all classes of 
society, faced each other, while the former read 
the oath of office : *^ I do solemnly swear that I 
will faithfully execute the office of President of 
the United States, and will to the best of my 
ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitu- 
tion of the United States." 

General Harrison listened to the impressive 
formula with uplifted hand, and the retiring Pre- 
sident, Mr. Cleveland, held the umbrella which 
sheltered his successor while the oath was being 
taken. A unanimous roar burst from the crowd 
when they saw that the oath was completed and 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. c ^ j 

that President Harrison stood before them. The 
newly-qualified President then advanced to the 
railing, drew a manuscript from his overcoat 
pocket, and in a loud, clear tone delivered his 
address, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate 
endeavorino- with an umbrella to shelter him from 
the pitiless storm. When the address was con- 
cluded, a signal officer waved a white flag with a 
red square in its centre, when the boom of a can- 
non announced to the waitinor thrones that the 
inaugural ceremony was ended. Then began the 
main display — the march and escort of the new 
President to his new home at the White House, 
where he from a grand stand reviewed the water- 
soaked parade. 

The unerring wisdom with which General Har- 
rison bore himself through all the tests of the 
campaign, and after his election, did not forsake 
him when he entered the duties of his hieh office. 
Appointing the ablest statesman in the Republi- 
can party — James G. Blaine, his Secretary of 
State, and nominating a Cabinet whose after 
ability demonstrated the wisdom of his choice, he 
entered upon an administration which was 
notable in many particulars, several questions of 
absorbing interest and possible peril arising, all 
of which were settled advantageously to this 
country. 

It was in its foreign policy that the administra- 
tion of President Harrison was particularly dis- 



--2 OUR JORMER PRESIDENTS. 

tinguished, and, in the management of this, the 
firmness and diplomatic skill of Secretary Blaine 
were of the utmost advantaoe to his chief. Of 

o 

those foreign questions the first to demand atten- 
tion was that relating to the German usurpations 
in the Samoan Islands. The United States had 
long demanded that the people of Samoa should 
be self-o-overned. In this the administration was so 
firm that Germany gave way, and a tripartite 
treaty of protection was signed by the United 
States, Great Britain, and Germany, guaranteeing 
the independence of the islands. 

A second question of international importance 
arose from the murder of the New Orleans chief 
of police, by a band of Italian assassins, and the 
subsequent lynching of the parties arrested for 
this crime. The Italian government claimed these 
murderers as subjects, demanded reparation and 
punishment of the lynchers, and recalled its min- 
ister in default of an immediate favorable answer. 
President Harrison declined to be forced into pre- 
cipitate action, and in the end the administration 
won a diplomatic batde with Italy, and forced her 
to recede from the uncalled-for hostile attitude 
she had assumed. 

A third question of international relations was 
that respecting American rights In Behring Sea. 
The raids of Canadian poachers threatened to 
annihilate the valuable herds of fur-bearing seals, 
and Great Britain supported them in their opera- 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. r r ^ 

tions. Secretary Blaine, as the adniuiistralion 
mouthpiece, enforced the American claims so ably 
and resolutely that in the end Lord Salisbury con- 
sented to a settlement of the dispute by arbitra- 
tion, and to aid the United States in prohibit- 
inor illegal sealing. At a later date the British 
government refused to continue the protection 
clause of this agreement, and the United States 
took it solely In hand, pending the meeting of the 
commission of arbitration. 

A fourth international question arose from our 
relations with Chile, beeinninof In the seizure of a 
Chilean vessel, which was illegally smuggling arms 
from a port of the United States. In conse- 
quence, a Chilean mob, in the streets of Valparaiso, 
assailed a party of unarmed United States sailors, 
killing some and wounding others, while the police 
stood by and made no effort to defend them. 
President Harrison demanded reparation and 
apology. As no answer was given to this de- 
mand the administration prepared for war, deem- 
ing the offense one which no self-respecting gov- 
ernment could overlook. This hostile attitude 
quickly brought from Chile the apology demanded, 
whereupon the warlike preparations ceased, the 
government having desired simple justice only. 

Perhaps the most important event of an inter- 
national character during the Harrison adminis- 
tration was the meeting of the so-called Pan- 
American Congress, an assembly of delegates 



cr. OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

from all the American nations to consider ques- 
tions of interest to the people of this continent. 
This meeting had been originally called, at Secre- 
tary Blaine's suggestion, during the Garfield ad- 
ministration It was delayed till the Harrison ad- 
ministration, and discussed such questions as inter- 
national arbitration in place of war, an interconti- 
nental railway, an American monetary union, an 
international bank, and commercial reciprocity. 

On all these subjects President Harrison and 
Secretary Blaine were in full sympathy, and they 
united in callino the attention of Cono^ress to the 
suggestions of the Assembly. Most of these sug- 
gestions have been favorably considered, that for 
international arbitration being signed by repre- 
sentatives of most of the nations. Active steps 
have been taken toward the project of an inter- 
continental railway, while the proposition for 
commercial reciprocity was made an essential 
feature of the McKinley tariff bill — the most 
notable Concrressional enactment of the Harrison 
administration. It was left to the discretion of 
President Harrison to establish reciprocal free 
trade in most of the articles of commercial impor- 
tance between the United States and the various 
other countries of America. This has been ac- 
complished with most of the American republics, 
and with the British and Spanish colonies, and to 
a partial extent with several European nations. 
The result promises to be of great advantage to 



BENJAMIN HARRISON 



555 



the commerce of the United States, which has 
gro'.vQ very considerably, both in exports and im- 
ports, during the later years of the administration. 

Of the various acts of Congress passed during 
the term of President Harrison, perhaps the most 
interesting was the International Copyright Law, 
which removed a reproach which had existed 
against this country since its inception — that of 
the piracy of mental products. 

Of other important events controlled by the 
administration may be named the activity in the 
increase of the American navy ; postal subsidies 
to steamships ; the admission of certain large 
ocean steamers to American registry in case 
others of equal tonnage and power are built in 
this country; the suppression of the "ghost- 
dance" Indian outbreak, and the great progress 
made in inducing the Indians to accept lands In 
severalty ; the adding of two new States — Wyo- 
ming and Idaho — to the Union ; the extension of 
the postal delivery system : the whole forming a 
valuable record of progress. 

During the spring of 1891, President Harri- 
son made an extensive tour through the South- 
ern and Pacific coast regions of the United 
States, his progress being everywhere marked by 
those brief and happy speeches In which he has 
proved himself an adept. This tour did more to 
acquaint the American people with the real men- 
tal calibre of their President than all his quiet 



cr5 OUR FORMER PRESIDENTS. 

official deeds, of which men saw only the results, 
and whose origin they were too much given to 
attribute to members of the Cabinet. 

Since that date President Harrison has risen 
steadily in the esteem of his party, and has be- 
come so prominent in the Republican councils as 
to have gained a re-nomination to the Presidency 
in the National Convention of 1892. At this 
writing the situation of 1888 is restored, with 
Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison for the 
standard-bearers of the two great parties, with the 
prospect of a campaign in which economical and 
political principles will far outweigh personalties,, 
and with the comlnof November election to de- 
cide which of these two distlnofuished men the 
American people wishes to have as national 
executive durinof the ensuincr Presidential term of 
office. 



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